One of the easiest mistakes to make in Washington is to forget that government is not God.

Power can do that to people. The longer you spend around it, the easier it becomes to believe that the right law, the right politician or the right government program can solve whatever is broken in our country. We begin to look to Washington for answers to problems that Washington was never meant to solve.

Scripture begins with a truth that should humble anyone that works in or follows politics: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

God is Creator. God is sovereign. We are not.

That means government is not ultimate. Neither is Congress. Neither is the president. Neither am I.

Romans 13 teaches that governing authorities have a legitimate purpose. Government is meant to maintain order and punish wrongdoing. But government is an authority under God, not above Him. Its power is real, but it is not unlimited.

That distinction matters.

Washington increasingly acts as though there is no problem it cannot solve and no part of life it should not manage. When something goes wrong, the instinct is another program, another agency or another federal solution.

But government cannot create virtue.

It cannot make a man love his family. It cannot give someone saving faith in Christ. It cannot replace the church, the family or the community. It cannot legislate away the effects of sin.

Our greatest problems are not ultimately political. Our fundamental problem is the human heart. We are sinners in need of redemption. No election can fix that. No law can fix that. No government program can fix that.

Only Christ can.

That does not make government unimportant. It means government must understand its proper place.

Our founders understood the danger of concentrated power. They built a system designed to restrain government because they understood what Scripture teaches about human nature – givesinful people unlimited power, and eventually that power will be abused.

That includes the people who agree with me. It includes the people who disagree with me. And it includes me.

Public service should produce humility, not pride. Authority should produce responsibility, not self-importance. Scripture calls us to stewardship because what we have been given is ultimately entrusted to us by God.

A healthy society cannot be built entirely by government. It is built by families, churches, communities and people who take responsibility for one another. Freedom is not the absence of responsibility. It is an opportunity to exercise it.

That is why I believe faith and limited government are connected.

Because God is sovereign, Washington is not.

Because our rights come from our Creator, government does not give them to us.

And because Jesus Christ is King, every earthly authority ultimately answers to Him.

Our ultimate hope is not in an election, a president, a political party or a government program.

Our hope is in Jesus Christ.

There will come a day when every politician leaves office, every government passes away and every earthly institution fades.

Christ will still be King.