There understandably is a lot of anxiety among many federal employees. But that anxiety can quickly turn into emotional blackmail, like an E-mail I received from a listener that included the line, "You claim to be a Christian, but..." Oof. How should we, as Americans, and as Christians, work together to get a more efficient government?
Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. The firing of federal workers is a tricky spot to be working through right now. At least it has been on the radio this last week. I start with compassion for anyone that's ever fired from a job. That's not fun. And then we hear these federal workers who get fired and my first place is compassion. And then we find out that some of these jobs are ridiculous. And people who receive grants and all the rest like bad, not no no good, definitely fired. You go do something else. What you're doing is not deserving of taxpayer money at all. So we'll highlight some of those stories and then someone will call in on my serious XM show someone call in and be very defensive Saying that I'm not showing enough compassion Okay
Now I'm not talking about you. You person who does essential and important and valuable work according to you I can only take your word for it and I agree with you. You're great Can we agree that that guy over there though, does it, I mean, is there anything? Is there any work, or is everyone great, too?
And then we'll have someone who, who'll call in who's in the private sector who's like, I've been fired five times in my life, so suck it up, buttercup. And there's a lot going on. In the end, the shows that we've had lately where this exchange happens, it doesn't feel good. I don't care for it. I don't like it. I don't like the division here. Emotions are getting hot. I get it. We're in a moment of uncertainty and uncertainty can cause anxiety because we're in the middle of it. We're working through it. A lot is getting shaken up. And if you're the type of person, usually the case is that if you're the type of person who goes into government work, different types of government, that's one of the problems too, there's different buckets. There's different buckets. I get a lot of emails from people who work in the Defense Department. Okay, that's a little bit different than this person perhaps over here in a different federal bureaucracy, right? So there's a lot of different nuance to this conversation that's making it difficult to have as well. But a lot of people go into federal government work, don't like uncertainty.
So they got the job, they're in, they don't have to ever worry about being fired. At least that's what they thought. So now we're coming in and shaking it all up and it can be very unnerving. And we don't know what the end of it's gonna be. So it can be super hard for a lot of people. I hear that. I do think it'll be good for many federal employees. I think most people will be better off in the end. I like this from Michelle Tafoya. She said, Dear Elon and Donald Trump, I got an idea. For every thousand federal workers fired, promote 10 each week who are exceptional or underappreciated. Highlight on social media, give them a bonus, maybe a trip to the Oval Office. Counter the negative narrative. I love that, I think that's great. Elon said, hundreds of federal workers are being promoted daily every time we encounter excellence. The Doge team will be more clear about this. The goal is to make the federal government a meritocracy as much as possible. Maybe you've seen by now a caller into the Breakfast Club. It's a show hosted by Charlemagne. And this woman called in. And these Charlemagne guys are all against Doge. And this woman called in. She's like, well, I don't know what you guys are talking about. This is awesome. All the dead weights getting cut out. All these losers are getting fired around me as they should be. And I'm going to get a promotion because I'm great at my job. Those guys didn't know what to do with that. But that's the attitude. They didn't know what to do with a good attitude. I believe in the end, this will work out way better for America. I think it'll work out better for most people, too. But the process can be difficult, and I think the process needs better marketing of the truth of what's going on and the good things that are happening. But we'll be a part of that the best we can, too. But back to the division. It's no good. I got this email from a listener. I won't read this on the radio. We'll just keep it here.
She ended it with, this is a whole long email
about how important her job is and all this. She ends with, you claim to be a Christian. So may I ask you where your empathy and compassion are? Now this woman, I'm assuming, did not hear the conversation we had with a pastor who just wrote a book called The Sin of Empathy. Empathy is a made-up thing. It's like a new term. It's only been around for a couple decades. It's not in the Bible. There's no empathy in the Bible. So, it's this made-up idea. Anyway, you claim to be a Christian, so may I ask where your empathy and compassion are. These are people's livelihoods at stake here, even if they're just, quote, federal workers. Or quote, just federal workers. I've never said that before. And bashing federal workers that call in and happen to have a different opinion than you and then twisting their words does not represent a Christ-like attitude, in my opinion. I've always enjoyed listening to you and usually agree with your opinions, but though I'm not sure, although I'm sure you won't care, your handling of this situation has really disappointed me." Okay, I understand this might be an emotionally difficult time for you, but that does not excuse your emotional blackmail tactic. And there was a lot of it in there. Starting with you claim to be a Christian, ending with you really disappointed me. If you're at risk of getting fired for your job, no one has ever said you're a terrible person. But then you come back and question my humanity and salvation. So we have a problem here. This is John Piper. He said emotional blackmail happens when a person equates his or her emotional pain, which this person is feeling, with another person's failure to love, which she feels, I have a failure to love. They aren't the same. A person may love well and the beloved still feel hurt and use the hurt to blackmail the lover into admitting guilt he or she does not have. Emotional blackmail says Because if I feel hurt by you, you are guilty. There's no defense. The hurt person has become God. Her emotion has become judge and jury. Truth does not matter. All that matters is the sovereign suffering of the aggrieved. It's beyond question. This emotional device is a great evil. I've seen it often in my three decades of ministry, and I am eager to defend people who are being wrongly indicted by it. I have never called all federal workers lazy, never described anything of the such. If I may, if you're a federal worker, maybe you don't paint all private sector workers as cruel monsters who want to see you suffer. That's not true. We're all Americans. And this is our government. Now this government is not a jobs factory, I believe. And this is what the pastor who wrote the Sin of Empathy talked about. He talked about empathy, or excuse me, compassion, because empathy is a made up thing, but compassion tethered to truth and reason. My tethered, what I'm tethered to is the fact that the only objective of the federal government is to fulfill the constitutional duties that we the people created for it. There will be people who are required to fulfill those duties. And we should accomplish said goals with as few federal employees as possible. And if you are called to be a part of this effort, that's wonderful. If your services are not needed any longer, then that's the end of it. And we welcome you back into the private sector with open arms because our overall objective here is making America great again. That's the team. It's not the division between private sector and public sector. It's America. That's what we're fighting for. That's what we want to win. Now that's not to belittle the anxiety and difficulty of going through losing a job and having to find a new job. This is where I'd like to pivot to the spiritual. I don't know how anyone, and I mean this genuinely, I think about it all the time, I don't know how anyone goes through anything difficult without Jesus, without God, without the Bible. I don't know how anyone does it. Losing a job is super tough. There's tons of things that are really, really difficult in life, losing a loved one.
But losing your job and not being able to provide for your family, very scary. I don't know how you do it without the promises that are in the Bible.
First of all, I don't know how you do it without a community, that's where your local church comes in and you go to your church that you're a member of and people will help you. And God will provide for you. I know it feels, and this isn't proper, I shouldn't even have this attitude, but it feels maybe a little trite to just throw scripture at someone. Are you going through a tough time? Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Not on your own, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he'll make your path straight. All right, see you later. That's not, that's not it. piece has to come from more than just a nice sounding sentence that could be written on a Christian notepad in fancy font. This piece comes from a relationship with Jesus and it's a whole worldview. And it's a theme that, well we talked about it in the latest TV episode that we did, the latest TV special about having an eternity focused mindset. Think of the Israelites in the desert and how they were fed with manna, which in Hebrew is translated, what is it? I love that. What it, I don't know what the stuff is. And there were rules to this provision from God. One of the rules was don't keep it overnight, don't store it thinking there won't be any more tomorrow. Eat what you got. Go gather it, get it, eat it. And then trust God that there will be more tomorrow. Exodus 16, 19, and Moses said to them, let no one leave any of it over until the morning. But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning. And it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. I love that. People are like, alright, God, or Moses told us not to save any, but I don't know if there's going to be any more tomorrow. I don't trust God. So I'm going to go ahead and save some. They wake up in the morning, it's full of worms. It's disgusting. Now just to make it clear that this wasn't because the manna just went bad on its own, the next line says, Moses said to them, this is what the Lord has commanded. Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil and all that is left over lay aside to be kept until the morning. Okay, so now we are going to keep it. So they laid it aside till the morning as Moses commanded them and it did not stink and there were no worms in it. So it wasn't the man itself. Moses said, eat it today, for today is the Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, there will be none. On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, how long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? God, I'm getting... come on! How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? I don't know how someone goes through life and the uncertainties that this fallen world brings us without knowing this truth that God provides. I'll end with John MacArthur. He said, Until we truly learn that God is sovereign, ordering everything for his own holy purposes and the ultimate good of those who love him. We can't help but be discontent. That's because in taking on the responsibility of ordering our lives, we'll be frustrated in repeatedly discovering that we can't control everything. Everything already is under control, however, by someone far greater than you or I. MacArthur says that providence is how God orchestrates everything to accomplish his purposes Let me show you what that means by contrast says there's two ways God can act in the world by miracle and by providence a miracle Is no natural explanation in the flow of normal life God suddenly stems the tide and injects a miracle Then he sets the flow back in motion just like parting the Red Sea until his people could walk across and closing it up again Do you think it would be easier to do that? To say hold it. I want to do a miracle and do it. Or to say, let's see, I've got 50 billion circumstances to orchestrate to accomplish this one thing. Well, the latter, that one, is providence. Think for example of how God providentially ordered the lives of Joseph, Ruth, and Esther. And today, he does the same for us. Today, he does the same for you. Do you trust God's providence? Do you trust that he will provide for you? If you don't, it will lead to anxiety. Let me flip it around, because I suffered through this a lot. I had anxiety, which meant I didn't really believe it. I said I believed it. I thought I believed it. But the anxiety was proof that I didn't really believe it. Do you trust God's providence? Do you trust that God will provide? If you have anxiety, the answer is no, you do not. If you truly believe the answer is yes, then you will have contentment and joy in your life, no matter what. Paul spoke to this Philippians, he says, I'm not saying this because I'm in need, for I've learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, I know what it is to have plenty. I've learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. Why? Because he trusted God. Of course, this doesn't mean to do nothing, doesn't mean to sit back and just wait for God to provide. The Bible repeatedly calls for people to be good workers. You can work as hard as you can and, and be content that God is in control of the results. None of this is to say that losing your job is easier or any of the heartache and terrible things that happen in life, never easy. Oh goodness, on our gratitude segment on Monday, we had a gentleman call in and his wife passed away 13 years ago, and he told this incredible story where he was gonna kill himself. He had the gun in his hand, ready to go. And he looked down and he saw his cats and he's like, well, who's going to take care of these cats? And he decided not to kill himself because I, someone's got to take care of the cats, cats. If I die, no one's going to find my body for a long time. The cats, what are they going to do? And it's been 13 years since his wife died. died and he said he talked to an older man at a bar whose wife also died many years longer and the caller said to this man how do you make it through? And the older man said how do you? One day at a time. As difficult as it can be to believe in the moment, God is in control.
Always. Always. Mike Slater, dot locals, dot com, transcript commercial free on the website Mike Slater dot locals, dot com.
