This week’s elections have been framed by many, especially those critical of President Trump, as a negative referendum on his second term. Some are even predicting that the Democrats’ victories portend a “blue wave” in next year’s midterms. By contrast, others suggest that Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the New York City mayoral race is a political “gift” for Mr. Trump, so long as he understands voters’ frustrations that led to Mr. Mamdani’s ascension.
While I would not offer partisan advice to Mr. Trump as he responds to these partisan views, I have been reflecting on his approach to a far more significant election in his future.
The president dialed into Fox & Friends a few weeks ago to discuss the war in Ukraine. During the conversation, he explained his motivation for trying to broker an end to the conflict: “I want to try and get to heaven, if possible,” he said. “I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
Prodded recently by a reporter to elaborate, he said, “I’m being a little cute. I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to get me into heaven. I think I’m not maybe heaven-bound.” He added, “I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make heaven, but I’ve made life a lot better for a lot of people.”
Saved by grace but living by works
Mr. Trump’s soteriology (doctrine of salvation) needs a significant biblical corrective. We are saved by grace and not works, by what Jesus has done rather than by anything we can do (Ephesians 2:8–9; Romans 11:6). If Donald Trump has trusted in Christ as his Savior, he is a child of God and has eternal life now (John 1:12; 3:16). If he has not, he urgently needs to make this commitment (2 Corinthians 6:2).
But I am focusing today less on the president’s soul and more on yours and mine.
My assumption is that you have already trusted in Jesus as your Savior and Lord. (If you have not, I encourage you to read my article, “Why Jesus?”, make the commitment I explain at its end, then reach out to a Christian friend who can help you grow in your new faith.)
My point is this: We know we are saved by grace, but many of us live by works.
We agree with St. Augustine that God loves each of us as if there were only one of us. We’ve heard pastors assure us that Jesus would die on the cross all over again just for us. But in every other dimension of our lives, we are what we do. Imagine appealing to grace when you undertake your next assignment at work, take your next test at school, or owe your next mortgage payment to the bank. Even marriage and family have performance-based conditional limits relative to adultery and abuse.
The same is true in a sense with our souls. As we have been discussing this week, we are commanded to love our Lord and our neighbor holistically and unconditionally (Matthew 22:37–39). This takes discipline and devotion: we go to church on Sunday, pray and read the Bible during the week, devote significant time and resources to Christian causes, and even read (and write) articles like this one.
But it’s not enough.
If you’re like me, you live with the knowledge that you don’t always love God holistically or your neighbor unconditionally. In fact, we fall short on both counts—sometimes far short—every day. And working harder to do better seems to be a path not to progress and holiness but to discouragement and burnout.
The supermoon and our sanctification
Last night we saw the brightest supermoon we will see this year. If we didn’t know better, we would think that this was because the moon itself became larger and more luminous.
However, astronomers inform us that the moon’s “light” is a reflection of the light of the sun and that the moon was closer to our planet and thus appeared to be larger and more luminous. I would not know any of this to be true if someone who knows more than me had not told me. My part is to trust their scientific expertise rather than my flawed observation.
So it is with our souls. Trying harder to be more godly doesn’t make us more godly, at least not in the long run. We need a source of light and wisdom beyond ourselves. And we need to trust that source even—and especially—when it contradicts our self-reliant culture.
What does God’s word tell us about spiritual progress?
- When facing temptation: “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
- When facing decisions: “Trust in the Lᴏʀᴅ with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5–6).
- When facing difficult circumstances: “We felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:9).
- When facing death: “He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).
In short, God alone is “able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy” (Jude 24).
As with astronomical wisdom, our role is to believe that this is so. As with the moon and the sun, we are to receive what our Source offers by grace and then to reflect that grace to a graceless world.
This means that we read Scripture, pray, worship, and serve, not so God will love us but because he already does. We practice spiritual disciplines not to grow spiritually but to position ourselves to experience the sanctification only the Spirit can effect in our lives.
“The best thing we will ever know”
First15, our ministry’s devotional resource, noted recently:
Of all the wonders our Creator provides us, boundless and unadulterated relationship with Jesus vastly exceeds them all. Jesus is the best thing we will ever know. His love restores, satisfies, transforms, and heals. His grace empowers and brings transcendent peace. His nearness resolves the great fears of our hearts. And his Kingship calls us to a right relationship of living for heaven rather than a pursuit of that which is worldly and fleeting.
Tim Keller was right:
“To be loved but not known is superficial. To be known and not loved is our nightmare. Only Jesus knows us to the bottom and loves us to the sky.”
When last did his love change your life?
Why not today?
Quote for the day:
“For breadth the love of Jesus is immensity, for length it is eternity, for depth it is immeasurability, and for height it is infinity.” —Charles Spurgeon
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