There is an old adage that says, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” This is true in all facets of life but it is especially true in the realms of politics and faith. No matter how correct or truthful you are, if people don’t see love in your conduct, your speech rings as hollow as a sales pitch. The Apostle Paul put it best in his first letter to Corinth:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,but have not love, I gain nothing.
- I Corinthians 13:1-3 (ESV)
I think this is why so many people have become disenchanted with the whole electoral process. On the right they see a party that says the right things but its leaders seem not to have any compassion for the poor and needy. On the left they see a party that seems to be compassionate but says and does things that make them very uncomfortable morally.
Whether this caricature is valid is irrelevant. The salient point is that if all we have to offer hurting people are political solutions then we really have nothing to offer them. We earn the right to be heard by serving others and taking care of their needs first and showing them genuine compassion and love. Anyone who is not prepared for this kind of service should do his Church or political party a favor and not seek to be their leader.
Before you go to gain the support of that guy down the street, remember this one question, “Have I earned the right to be heard?”
