By Allen Haynes • November 4, 2024 Listen to the podcast. Andy Stanley (00:02): Hey everybody. Welcome to a special pre-election edition of the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast. I’m Andy, and as we come to the end of what is perhaps the most contentious election season, certainly in recent memory, I want to say a few words to all of you. Normal people, those of us who get up every day and go to work, go to school, drop our kids off at school, pay our bills, pay our taxes, interact with, and actually do business with people who don’t look like us, talk exactly like us or even vote like we do. This is for all of you, Republicans, democrats, independents, who love your country, you love your party, but you like me, are weary of all the middle school playground rhetoric and antics. You’re weary of the name calling, the endless, the sky is falling. The texts, the mailers. This is for all of you who are sad or maybe even mad about how all of this has impacted your relationships, maybe even family relationships. (01:04): And my message to all of you who fall into those categories is this. There’s way more of us than there is of them. They’re just louder. And our problem is actually our superpower is we don’t give the world anything to talk about, report about, complain about because we’re busy. We’re busy minding our own business, taking care of business, taking care of our families. And while we may not get a lot of attention, we determine the direction of our nation. And that’s a good thing because the nation can’t go anywhere without us. We are we. The people, the normal, hardworking, healthy, want to get along with each other people. So if that’s you, fear not we are going to be fine. And I’ll tell you why in a moment. But first, a comment or two about fear. The reason politicians leverage fear is because it works, but it works because we let it work. (02:00): So don’t let it, the sky is not falling, the end is not near. We’re still going to have a country regardless of which candidate wins and which party loses. There’s a way forward, there’s a way through, but it will require something of us. In fact, it will require something of all of us. And that’s okay because come on, our nation is strong because generations of people who came before us did things that required something of them, men and women who refused the path of least resistance. And as you know, the path of least resistance is well, is to complain about everything and do nothing about anything. And just so you know, I can complain with the best of them. And perhaps like you, I have an opinion about everything and I have an opinion about everybody as well. And like you, it’s tempting to surround myself with people who are just like me, who like me, and who experience the world just like me. (02:57): But I’ve refused to do that. And I hope you’ll refuse to do that as well because that’s certainly not the way forward. Complaining about everything while doing nothing is not an option for those of us who love our country, who love our neighbors, and tuning it all out isn’t either. So what can we do? What should we do? What has the potential to actually make a difference? Well, I’m convinced, and I’m certainly not alone on this. I’m convinced the way of Jesus is the way forward for our nation in this cultural moment. And if you’re not a religious person, hear me out. By the way of Jesus, I’m not referring to a religious movement or actually anything religious. When Jesus stepped onto the pages of history, religion was broken. In fact, in most quarters it had become irrelevant. Romans and Greeks had more Gods than they could keep up with or keep happy religious leaders in Jerusalem in the first century, they were so corrupt. (03:53): Jesus had nothing pleasant to say about them, called them hypocrites, whitewashed tombs, in other words, beautiful on the outside and full of, well use your imagination full of that on the inside. So the way of Jesus wasn’t a religious way then or now, but oddly enough, we’re still talking about and quoting Jesus, right? People quote Jesus without even knowing they’re quoting Jesus eventually, as I’m sure you know, the empire that crucified him eventually embraced him and worshiped him. Why? Well, because his followers embraced a way and approach to life that was so contrary to the selfish, violent winner takes all cultures of the day that they actually stood out. They led out their way. The Jesus way attracted men and women from every corner of the empire, Jewish and non-Jewish. And what exactly was it about this way of living that attracted them in spite of violent opposition and persecution? (04:52): It was the upside down. Others first raced to the back of a line. Let me carry that for you. Go the second mile way of Jesus. Now, the reason I’m convinced the way of Jesus is the way forward for our nation is this. As you already know, as a nation, we will never fully agree on solutions to our nation’s challenges. But the way of Jesus provides a relational bridge. A bridge, a bridge that provides the optimal environment for hammering out the best if imperfect solutions. Because the way of Jesus mandates mandates that we honor one another regardless of our differences, regardless of our political differences. Think about it. It’s certainly possible, and you know this, it is certainly possible to love unconditionally and disagree politically. In fact, some of you are doing that right now, right? That approach and posture actually creates the optimal context and environment for problem solving, whether it’s personal or national. (05:55): Political and ideological is not a prerequisite for honoring one another, caring for one another, and carrying one another’s burdens. You already know that. You know that because you’ve experienced that, right? You have cared for people, met the needs of people, been generous to people whose political views were unknown to you, and if you had known, you would’ve been kind to them anyway. That’s what normal healthy people do. So this isn’t new, it’s just neglected. If the whole Jesus thing still causes you to push back a little bit, consider this, and this is amazing. The last thing Jesus did for his closest followers before he was arrested was wash their feet. And when he finished, he told them why he did it. And it wasn’t because their feet were dirty. Jesus washed their feet so they wouldn’t have any excuses not to wash each other’s feet. (06:53): There were dozens of things the men in that room disagreed about. There were things they disagreed with Jesus about, but when their rabbi, their teacher got on his knees and did the work of a slave, the message was clear. Gentlemen, don’t let your differences divide you. Your differences don’t have to divide you. Here’s the point. Think about this. Washing their feet did not solve anything, but it ensured their differences would not divide them in our context, showing respect for one another, being kind to one another, showing up for one another. Those things don’t address our nation’s problems, but what they do is they keep us connected so that we can better address our nation’s problems. The best thing for our nation, the best thing for the health and prosperity of our nation is for us to work together for the common good. Unity is the win. (07:51): Unity is how we win. Unity is primary. By unity, I don’t mean uniformity or a hundred percent agreement. We will never reach 100%. Agreement. Disagreement is unavoidable, but division is a choice. Disrespect is a choice. Fear mongering is a choice. Branding people in the other party as evil and demonic is a choice, a bad choice. None of those things are necessary and none of them facilitate progress. In fact, they impede our progress as a nation because they divide us. And division is not a winning strategy. So let’s not settle for simply being law abiding citizens. Let’s be better than that. Let’s do something more demanding than that. Let’s be quick to listen and slow to speak. If somebody considers you their enemy, just don’t return the favor. Let’s not demonize those who arrive at different conclusions and embrace different solutions. Let’s do what’s not what we can justify. (08:58): Let’s do what’s responsible, not simply what’s permissible. Let’s be kind and yet willing to call out unkindness. Let’s be honest and willing to call out dishonesty, especially when it undermines someone’s dignity. Let’s, well, let’s just do for others what we would want others to do for us if the roles were reversed. So let’s live love and lead in such a way that the people regain the moral high ground and serve as the conscience of our nation. We will never all see eye to eye on how to address the issues of our day, but we can stand shoulder to shoulder in our commitment to what’s best for our nation and what’s best for the people in our nation. We will never all agree on what’s best for people, but we can agree. In fact, we must agree that what’s best for people is what’s best. That’s our common ground, and that’s all the common ground we need. Thanks for listening to the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast, and be sure to check back next week for my post-election. Follow-up to today’s episode, and if you have a minute, maybe share this episode with a friend. Comments are closed.