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This piece was adapted from Russell Moore\u2019s newsletter<\/a>. Subscribe here<\/a>.<\/p>\n T<\/span>he other day I was talking to a pastor who sighed and asked, \u201cAre we really going to do this again?\u201d After all the tumult and division of churches and families from the last two presidential elections, it\u2019s exhausting to think another one is coming.<\/p>\n He asked, \u201cCan you give me advice on how to get my people through 2024?\u201d<\/p>\n And I said, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n I was, of course, partly joking. But not entirely. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n Many people assume that the election year of 2024 will be a reboot of 2020, especially since it seems we will have the same two candidates running as last time. It may feel like these sitcom reboots of late\u2014Saved by the Bell<\/em> or Roseanne<\/em> or, now, Frasier<\/em>. A show comes back 20 years later with the same characters, except all aged up, trying to throw out classic catchphrases the nostalgic old audience wants while trying to introduce new characters in an attempt to gain some new people. It\u2019s a reasonable assumption to think of the 2024 elections this way\u2014but it\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n Imagine if you had asked me this time of year in 2019 how to get through the 2020 election. I would have had no way to help you. I wouldn\u2019t have known that a microscopic virus would kill countless people and shut down the entire world. I wouldn\u2019t have known that the murder of George Floyd would transform the conversations and debates about racial justice. The list could go on and on.<\/p>\n In fact, we would not have known just one month ago <\/em>that the Middle East would be plunged into war. We would have known that our political system here in the United States is messed up, but we would not have known how prescient Andy Warhol was when he said, \u201cIn the future, everyone will be speaker-designate of the US House of Representatives for 15 minutes\u201d (or something like that).<\/p>\n None of us can prepare for 2024\u2014if by \u201cprepare\u201d we mean to check off all the steps that can keep us from the mistakes and traumas of years past. That\u2019s because no one knows what is out there ahead of us, waiting for us, in 2024.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what you can <\/em>do, though. You can prepare yourself <\/em>to step into the mystery of whatever will be 2024. What I mean is that you can start to prepare yourself to be the kind of person who can handle it, whatever it is.<\/p>\n Part of that has to do with reframing our own anxieties about what we can\u2019t control. People without a Christian background who read the Gospels for the first time are almost always startled by the figure of Jesus. He just doesn\u2019t sound like someone marketing a religion. Instead, he does things like telling his first disciples that they would be persecuted.<\/p>\n We would expect the founder of a market-savvy new religious movement to talk about all the benefits ahead while minimizing talk about bad things. I have little doubt that if I had been among the band of 12, I would have nudged someone at the fireside and grumbled, \u201cWhy does he have to keep bringing this stuff up? All I did was point out how cool the columns were, and he starts in on the end of the world again.\u201d<\/p>\n But Jesus also said why he was talking about these dark future happenings. \u201cI have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them\u201d (John 16:4). Jesus was targeting the sort of panic that would have come if the disciples had faced the darkness ahead without knowing anything, thinking to themselves, \u201cLions? Who ever said anything about lions?\u201d<\/p>\n The fact that Jesus saw all of it ahead of time\u2014and wasn\u2019t the least bit thrown by it\u2014is one of the means the Holy Spirit used to bolster the faith and courage of those followers.<\/p>\n Jesus told them just enough about their futures to keep them from trying to find false solutions to the crises to come. The gist of it was: When all these things go down, there will be somebody out there claiming to be me. It won\u2019t be. When I get back, you\u2019ll <\/em>know it<\/em> (Matt. 24:3\u201331). Jesus said, \u201cFor false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time\u201d (Mark 13:22\u201323).<\/p>\n You don\u2019t know what\u2019s waiting for you in 2024\u2014with the presidential election or a billion other things. But you can know what kind of person you will hope to be, by God\u2019s grace, when you get there.<\/p>\n