The Christian worldview acknowledges the role of government in a person’s life. It acknowledges that government has a role to play in keeping the peace, keeping things fair, making sure that everyone has equal “access” to the things that make temporal, happy, good life possible. But the “work” of doing that still belongs to the individual person seeking “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” not just for themselves, but for the one’s that they love. For that, individual liberty, self-discipline, and a transcendent view of thanksgiving/thanksliving is required for the “most liberty/freedom possible in a sinful/broken world.”

The government may be the referees needed (a view often called “limited, federal government) for all the various peoples in our country to play nice, or give it their best….but when they become the “players” of the game of our lives. Bad things happen to liberty, to freedom, and yes, even to the pursuit of happiness. We, all citizens created in the image of God, are to be the seekers of virtue, of justice, of success, for the sake of those we love. To lose that personal challenge and accountability is to be “taken out” of the game of our own lives. (I don’t know about you, but when I played basketball, football, baseball, etc…I hated being taken out of the game – who wants to ride the bench?)

Nothing good happens when people are discouraged to live their own lives virtuously, justly, mercifully, and successfully. Nothing. So think it through….When the referee plays the game, we usually turn the game off at our home….Why? it is pleasing to no one. And, a game full of foul shots, full of penalties, and outrageous calls, is a game not worth playing or watching. Keep the government in its proper place, and get to playing the game of your life to give God glory and to bless others in His name….that’s not just a life worth living, that’s a neighborhood, even a country worth living in!

school board member, etc.…that’s where our influence will always be its greatest. To be active in the neighborhood for the sake of the neighborhood, that’s a third way to “be involved.”

In my work in Washington D.C., my main role is to be active in protecting the First Amendment, public rights of our Churches, Schools, and Universities. And, the good news is this. Right now, the federal government seems to be heeding our voice and protecting those liberties more than in the recent past. For that we are grateful, and for that we will continue to diligently fight. But the purpose of that effort is to show the world that ultimately the best general service for the community’s blessing is not a “government thing,” it’s a neighbor to neighbor thing, where we all seek to look out for each other first, calling for the coercive powers of the government only when it can’t be solved any other way. Look to the stations in which God has planted you. Undergird the ones around you with prayer and encouragement. And look across the fence to your neighbor first before calling the “911 of public policy” as your solution. We’ll all be glad we did in the end.

https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2018/04/two-kingdom-theology-in-the-trump-era