President-elect Barack Obama

As I was driving to the store this morning, a quote from Lincoln's Second Inaugural address came to my mind. In the midst of at least equally, if not more perilous times than these for our nation, Abraham Lincoln articulated the following sentiment:

"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

As I understand Lincoln (and certainly, some of you are better read on him than I), he was not saying that the Civil War was God's punishment on America. If you read Lincoln in context, it seems more likely that he didn't know if the War was God's punishment or the natural course of events spiraling out of control, which Lincoln "plainly confessed" had "controlled" him. I think Lincoln was suggesting, at least, that all actions, good and bad, integrally contain many causes and effects. Some Southern stalwarts even today argue that Lincoln's 1860 election brought on the war because of his stated goal of maintaining the Union at any cost, not a desire on Lincoln's part to crush slavery. They are probably right, to an extent, at least. But that is not the point. Had a conflagration not erupted over slavery under a Lincoln Presidency, it would still have only been a matter of time.

I likewise do not want to argue that Barack Obama's election is God's retribution for the 100 years of segregation, lynchings and general bigotry that followed the Civil War's conclusion. But I am prepared to say that Obama's win stems from an American electorate hungry to purge itself of the stigma of past racism. I don't think electing Barack Obama is the proper path to that cleansing, nor do I think Obama voters only voted for him for that reason. But I do believe it played a part, and I also think it is understandable, even though I don't agree with the logic behind it. Shelby Steele has probed this theme for this entire past election year, and has a new column out today that closes the loop. It is worth reading the whole thing; Steele explores the issue in a far more profound way than I can.

Here are several personal takeaways from this election, in no particular category or order:

I wish the new President well on a personal level. I trust Christians everywhere can at least unite on this. I have not forgotten the vitriol of the Clinton administration, and some of the sentiments I heard people express who were supposed to be spiritual role models. (For example, I recall one elderly lady opined that Clinton "needs a brick through his head.") The saddest thing to me as I recall this is that probably some of those unkind words came out of my own mouth.

Saying that Obama is a socialist at heart is not invective or unkind, at least in my book. It is simply descriptive. Wishing that ill would befall him or using uncharitable terminology to describe his wife, for instance, IS unkind however, and is not becoming to a follower of Jesus Christ.

I plan to pray for the President daily, criticize him forthrightly when he is wrong, which I anticipate will be 90% of the time or more and support him when he is right. And I'm sure I will be advocating for most of his political opponents in 2010 and his opposing contender in 2012. But let us not forget the lesson of I Corinthians 13, nor that our Kingdom at the end of the day is not of this world. Without agape love, we are nothing but a sounding gong or clanging cymbal. Paul's analogy rings as true today as it did 2,000 years ago. Opposition without charity is bitter and empty in the end.

Finally, I do rejoice that we have reached the place in our society where the election of a black President is possible. But let us do our due diligence and firmly hold President-elect Obama accountable to the fundamental principles of our nation.