A Peace of Wholeness: How to Find Calm in an Anxious Election

[Editor’s note: This is part three of the “Fruits in Season” series, exploring the impact of the biblical “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16–24) on Christians during election season. Find the full series here.]

The world is at war.

It may not yet be a declared conflict between Axis and Allied powers, but there’s no denying that wars are being waged daily throughout the world. Ukraine and Israel are the most prominent fronts, but the proxies involved make the battlefield worldwide. Escalation looms around the corner, and the powder keg is at full grain capacity. The right match could start the wrong fire with nary a spark.

The world is not only at war, but it’s also enveloped by rumors of war. And as war in the classic sense gathers steam, the rumors hit closer to home. War waged in whispers is war nevertheless. This conflict manifests itself not in armed battle, but in everyday anxieties that cripple us by keeping us distracted from reality. Worry is war, and we are a worried nation.

The simple fact that emotional support animals exist is all the proof one needs that we’re living in anxious times. But if that’s not enough, just look at how the therapy industry is doing. Once spoken of in hushed tones, it now advertises itself everywhere in a post-pandemic boom. After all, the National Institute of Mental Health has estimated that 19.1% of U.S. adults have had some form of anxiety disorder in the past year. We are an anxious people, impatiently waiting for the other shoe to drop.

In election season, such social anxiety shifts into another gear altogether. A divided nation is vocally at one another’s throat on a daily basis. Candidates fight on the debate stage, their surrogates fight on social media, and people tiptoe around social gatherings, hoping not to offend. Add assassination attempts to this year’s list, and peace seems far from anyone’s mind.

Yet the third item in the Apostle Paul’s cluster of fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:16-24 is peace. And if a Christian has the Holy Spirit — which Scripture tells us is true, then it’s also true that we can have peace — even in a hostile and anxious time like an election year. But how?

First, we must be cautious of counterfeit peace. In an election year especially, nearly every campaign — no matter the party — will tell you that their winning plan will give you peace of mind or even stop wars. Don’t believe that for a second. More than a few years ago, the biblical prophet Jeremiah was wise to this game:

“For from the least to the greatest of them,

everyone is greedy for unjust gain;

and from prophet to priest,

everyone deals falsely.

They have healed the wound of my people lightly,

saying, ‘Peace, peace,’

when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:13–14, ESV).

This comes in many forms. A politician could swear up and down that the economy is booming — all while inflation skyrockets and jobs are scarce. Or they promise that with their election win, all the wrongs of the previous administration will be made right. Don’t get me wrong — elections are important, but seldom does an election victory create lasting peace in a country. Even the Pax Romana wasn’t always tranquil (just ask those countries under Roman occupation!). Fake peace is as common as fake news, and Christians walking in the Spirit must be wary of it.

True peace must be rooted in something lasting. After all, if one’s guard is only let down for four years, the time in-between must be spent on building fortifications — not true rest. True peace means not having to always be on anxious guard, knowing that a conflict is decisively won. Our political battles, as important as they are, simply reset with each cycle, no matter how much of a landslide is the victory.

The peace of the Spirit is found in the decisive victory of a much larger, and much more important conflict. The alienation of humanity to God by product of our willful rebellion against his authority put us clearly on the wrong side of an unequal equation. We became God’s enemies, and any peace we could offer fell solidly into the category of counterfeit. We were, as Paul wrote to the Ephesians, without hope, and without God in the world. But by the blood of his Christ, God preemptively made the offer of peace to his hopeless enemy:

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near” (Ephesians 2:13–17, ESV).

Only when we are reconciled to God through Christ can we be at peace. In him, our anxieties are alleviated, and the hostility is put to death. Neither a world war nor a divisive election can disrupt that kind of peace. Nervous vote counting (hanging chads, anyone?) is no match for the person whom God has offered peace. Wars and rumors of wars will still rage, but the person who walks by the Spirit will walk amid the storm to a voice that cries, “Peace! Be Still!”