Introduction to The Compass Podcast and Call for Listener Support
Debbie Wuthnow Hello, I'm Debbie Wuthnow, co host of the Compass, the official radio program of ivoterguide. Did you know that this content is listener supported? Without people like you, this podcast would not exist. That's why we need you. A generous monthly gift of any amount will help sustain American family Radio. And specifically this podcast, a generous gift to, ivoterguide will help make sure that we're, there for you in the future. Please consider becoming a monthly financial partner today of AFR by visiting afr.net give that's afr.net give
Welcome to The Compass: Navigating the Public Square with Faith and Conviction
Jeff Chamblee welcome to the Compass, navigating the public square together with faith, truth and conviction.
Rick Beggs Well, good to have you on with us today on the program the Compass. You know, the Compass is the official radio show of all iVoterGuide And I just happen to have the president of iVoterGuide who is my co host, Debbie Wnow. Debbie, say hey.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, hey. And I just want to say, I'm pleased to host this with you and Rick Beggs is the name of my co host. If he doesn't say it,
Rick Beggs I never say it. You never
Debbie Wuthnow say your
Post-Election Reflections: Navigating Feelings and Identifying with Political Outcomes
Rick Beggs name? Yeah, I don't want anybody to know I'm in a witness protection program. anyway, we have just come off a very, very busy week with elections and voting and I don't know about you, Debbie. I'm ready to move on.
Debbie Wuthnow I am ready for life to move on. That is correct.
Rick Beggs And, I don't know if our audience is thankful, if they're joyous or if they're depressed. I guess it depends on how your team did this past week
Debbie Wuthnow or your player did. Maybe if it's like fantasy football. You got multiple teams, right? That's right.
Rick Beggs Well, multiple players. Any. But you may be both at the same time because you could have done well.
Debbie Wuthnow How do you.
Rick Beggs State level.
Debbie Wuthnow Both at the same time.
Rick Beggs Well, you could have done well at the state level, but all the federal races or nationally didn't go the way you needed. Or
Debbie Wuthnow maybe your mayor won or lost or something.
Rick Beggs Or maybe everything went well nationally, but something locally. Really?
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah,
Rick Beggs went sideways.
The Trap of Political Identity: Examining How Christians Define Themselves Amidst Election Cycles
I don't know how you're feeling out there, folks, but I know for us, we want to talk specifically about, your state of mind today and really, how you view yourself. Because many Christians, actually a lot of voters, but many Christians included, identify, themselves with politics. But I think we all can kind of fall into that trap. And then we have mood swings based on elections and outcomes.
Debbie Wuthnow So who you are swings with the, the times
Rick Beggs that way. Okay. And I would ask you, Debbie, how do you identify during and before and after the elections?
Debbie Wuthnow Well, I'm going to put it back on you, Rick. How do you identify?
Rick Beggs Well, I think today I identify.
Debbie Wuthnow How do you feel
Rick Beggs as a 12 foot Martian
Debbie Wuthnow today?
Rick Beggs Yeah. How
Debbie Wuthnow about yesterday?
Rick Beggs Yesterday I was more like a labradoodle.
Debbie Wuthnow But do I need to take you outside?
Rick Beggs Yeah, that's right. Anyway, sometimes we find our identity, in the wrong things, and politics is a big one. So, tell me what you think about.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, I will tell you. I kind of proposed this question because I was on a panel recently at a state policy groups, event, and they proposed draft questions for us before we got there. And I just started thinking, and I was thinking about how I would answer them.
Defining Christian Identity Beyond Politics: The True Source of Self in God's Creation
Right. The benefit of knowing the question in advance is fabulous. But, they never got to this question. So this is my opportunity.
Rick Beggs But this one kind of shook you a little bit.
Debbie Wuthnow It shook me. And it, it really, it made me think. It made me think. And so the question was supposed to be, what advice do you have for Christians who are concerned about making politics their identity? And at first I was like, oh, are Christians making politics their identity? I hope not.
Rick Beggs Well, and we inadvertently. Well, I think inwardly we know what the true answer is. But kind of walk us through this, Debbie, as you were formulating an answer for this when that was brought to you,
Debbie Wuthnow well, it started making me think about how do I. What is our identity? You know, like, if somebody says, rick, tell me about yourself. Who are you? We start with
Rick Beggs job.
Debbie Wuthnow job. Yeah, I would say, you know, I'm a mom or I'm a wife or maybe I'm an engineer. Oh, I love the
Rick Beggs Dodgers.
Debbie Wuthnow We went to the same place at the same time. So it could be, you know, what we like, what we do,
Rick Beggs how we view ourselves.
Debbie Wuthnow But, you know, in recent culture, the word identity or identify has been, stolen, tweaked, shifted.
Rick Beggs Yeah. Ah. I think it has a lot to do with how I'm feeling.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Rick Beggs Or what I think about myself, or maybe what I think others think about
Debbie Wuthnow that whole phrase of. And I think gender identity is part of it came to be that, you know, who do you identify as? Am I a woman or I am a man? And that just.
Rick Beggs Well, I think culture is really sort of prompting us that we are the ones that come up with who our true self is or what our truth is, or what's the phrase people would always say to each other? Just follow your heart, Debbie. Just follow your Heart.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah,
Rick Beggs but that's not. That's not what we're talking about, especially as followers of Jesus.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, you know, and scripturally, in Genesis, God created us, male and female. He didn't do it on his feelings.
Foundational Identity in God's Image: Countering Cultural Shifts and Following Our Hearts
He gave it it fact. Our bodies are part of God's design. We are the Omega Day. We are God's image. And that is where I get my identity.
Rick Beggs Yeah. And yet we, when that question is proposed to us, I'm not sure that's my first answer and probably not everybody else's. It should be.
Debbie Wuthnow It should be the core of who we think of ourselves as. But we do get wrapped in so many, layers of jobs that we do, roles that we fulfill. but, you know, following your heart, is shaky ground. Yeah. The heart is deceitful.
Rick Beggs Yes. Scripture is very clear about that. And I think many people today, especially young people, sort of get caught up in their hurts and their searching, in their, you know, they want to have, answers that are fully complete for themselves rather than looking at who created
Debbie Wuthnow well. And they also want to be special and unique. And they don't quite grasp that God created us, each special and unique. And you don't have to deviate from that design to be,
Rick Beggs You don't have to look around. I mean, look at you and then look at me. Not the same person. One has height.
Debbie Wuthnow And I will tell you, watch for an upcoming issue or when the Stand is going to do an article about all the hosts. You can see that, you know, we're all unique
Rick Beggs and we're different heights anyway. It, we're not defined by those things. Even though culture tells us that we are, and especially in regards to gender and what we do and who we think we are, who we think we should be. Christians can get it as wrong as anybody out there,
Debbie Wuthnow 100%. Yeah. we do. And. And let's not point fingers when we do get it wrong. Let's readjust.
Rick Beggs Yeah, Well, I will. I will always point a finger at somebody who's got it wrong. Just
Debbie Wuthnow pointed at me.
Rick Beggs I know, but I. Yeah, purposely. But I. I will never point it back at me because I, of course, I don't think that. Well.
Emotions, Election Outcomes, and Identity: Staying Rooted in Core Beliefs Despite External Results
Debbie Wuthnow And have you heard that when one frigate points out, three or four are pointing back?
Rick Beggs Okay. Yeah, mom, thanks for that. but I. I think we just tend to go with those feelings, those thoughts about who we are, what our identity is. And because we just came off the elections, we tend to believe if we won or we lost, you know, our team is identified now is the winners or the losers. And somehow that should change who we are. But
Debbie Wuthnow it doesn't. Nope.
Rick Beggs Not at all.
Debbie Wuthnow Not at all. I will tell you. I was telling you, I have a sticker that I got. I don't remember where I got it from, and it says, I identify as a patriot. And I thought, you know, of all those identify as men and women, and I put it on my water bottle and we were at a family vacation and a Gen Z family member, cousinish. It's like, I really like your sticker. Now, this cousin is in the liberal range. She, you know, had some trans friends she'd bought at previous engagements. But it's, I kind of liked the twist on the current lingo to say, you know, I, I do. I love America. So I am a patriot, but it is not the core of who I am.
Rick Beggs Right. And. And I think we can layer on ourselves when we know what the core of us is, the things that we do. Like, it, could be pizza, it could be baseball, could be Motown. It could be just about anything else that we enjoy.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah.
Rick Beggs But that's not who we are at our core.
Debbie Wuthnow Right.
Heavenly Citizenship and God's Sovereignty: Trusting His Plan Through All Circumstances
Rick Beggs And actually this is not our eternity here. This is. We're heading towards.
Debbie Wuthnow Our citizenship is American, but it's also in heaven.
Rick Beggs In heaven. And that far outweighs America.
Debbie Wuthnow It's, a far better place to be.
Rick Beggs I, I'm always concerned too, after elections that now performance, somehow is going to redirect how I think or believe or feel. And it shouldn't. I should already be rooted in those things. But politics and elections and outcomes have a way of distorting those types of things.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, and we always have. I mean, we work towards a goal. Right. We have a goal we're striving for and we want to have happen. But God works through all of it. He works through kings, he works through elections, he works through sinners, he works through believers. And even if it's not what we wanted to have happen happen, God's will will be accomplished. Right. So no matter if it's the way we wanted it to go, I look back at the 2020 election, a lot of Christians didn't like the results of that. But I think God worked through that to get us to where we are today.
Rick Beggs I'm not sure we would have had, the president we have now.
Debbie Wuthnow He wouldn't have been prepared.
Rick Beggs No. To
Debbie Wuthnow know what to do.
Rick Beggs Prepared than he was the last time.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah. And even, you know,
Rick Beggs and believe me, he's.
Enduring Identity Amidst Disappointment: Knowing Who You Are Regardless of Life's Outcomes
He is a Flawed man.
Debbie Wuthnow As are we all.
Rick Beggs But we all are correct.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah. But, I think the question to think about is if the outcome is not what I want, the election didn't go the way I wanted. Maybe, a job didn't go the way I wanted, or a marriage didn't go the way I wanted. Do I still know who I am? Does that change who I am at my core and at my essence?
Rick Beggs Yeah. And the answer is no, it should not.
Debbie Wuthnow Right.
Rick Beggs But that's where we kind of get on shaky ground because we have put the emphasis, well,
Debbie Wuthnow let's get back on solid ground.
Rick Beggs Okay. Take me there.
Solid Ground in God's Word: Discovering Identity as Children of the King and Christ's Ambassadors
Debbie Wuthnow Well, when I go to solid ground, I go to God's word.
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow And what does the Bible say about who I am? I am a daughter of the king.
Rick Beggs You're an image bearer.
Debbie Wuthnow I am. I'm created in God's image. Male and female. He created them. He gives us all dignity. He. He calls us his children. He plans in advance all the works ordained for us from Psalms 139, even before 1 of them came to be.
Rick Beggs Well, and you know the, the word dignity, somehow we feel that somebody outside of us should give that to us, when actually we don't really internalize it until we come to Christ and surrender to Him. And now He's a manifestation out of us of our personal dignity because we are made in his image. Wow.
Debbie Wuthnow let Christ flow through you in all that you do.
Rick Beggs And we've been chosen
Debbie Wuthnow and adopted. I like it.
Rick Beggs I know. And
Debbie Wuthnow given a job.
Rick Beggs That's right. and I think you said this already, but out of 1st Peter, it says he calls us a chosen people, a royal priesthood. I don't know how much more dignity you can have than to be recognized as that,
Debbie Wuthnow as a priest, as a rep. Well, the, the, the calling, I guess, or the, the job description that I, I, resonates very well with me, and it's kind of political, but not is that we are Christ's ambassadors and comes from Second Corinthians, an ambassador is a representative of the country they come from. Right. But they're living in another kingdom.
Rick Beggs That's right.
Debbie Wuthnow And we are Christ's ambassadors of the kingdom, but living in this fallen world that God planted us in to represent Him. Right. Which means we need to represent, to live out, to be a testimony, both through words, deeds and action. I guess deeds and actions are the same things, but. Yeah.
Balancing Faith and Action: The Importance of Voting and Engaging in the World
Rick Beggs Well, I also don't want to get too far off the mark here to say, well, then God already knows. He already has chosen Me, I'm, whoa. I don't really need to vote. I don't need to be that person
Debbie Wuthnow because
Rick Beggs you can kind of get yourself moving the wrong direction or fully in a direction that causes you to quit living here on earth and you're just heavenly minded. You're no earthly good. That's right. And, and I want people to be real careful about that because we believe we've been called to help encourage people to vote. And that's why we have I voter guide because it gives people the chance to look at research that they could never have done for themselves so they can vote wisely. And of course we want, as believers, we want to vote our biblical worldview. But that doesn't mean that God always brings us candidates to choose that have that and, or that all those biblical worldview candidates win
Debbie Wuthnow because they
Rick Beggs don't.
Debbie Wuthnow They don't.
Rick Beggs And so you can kind of wallow in, oh, God, where are you in this? Would it. None of this catches God by surprise. It's not like he didn't show up and go, oh my gosh, I was over watching a, ah, car race over in Monaco. I totally, totally forgot about the elections in the United States. What I'm just saying, you know, like we do as humans, we
Debbie Wuthnow will
Rick Beggs forget this and would, you know, oh, sorry I forgot
Debbie Wuthnow it
Rick Beggs was your birthday.
God's Overarching Plan: Finding Good in Difficult Times and Learning from Experiences
Debbie Wuthnow Life was going on my anniversary. Oops.
Rick Beggs And that's not God. God is doing all at the same time
Debbie Wuthnow well. And he has the, the big picture. Right. We can get trapped in the weeds sometimes and lose sight of the overarching plan that God has for this kingdom and for each of us individually that requires certain elements to happen to make other elements happen. Right. I mean we got so angry at Covid. But look at the good that came from that whole experience. I think it woke up, the whole parents rights educational movement came out of schools being forced to be virtual and parents seeing what their kids were being taught. And God brought good from that.
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow And getting people engaged in what's going on in the schools and attending school board meetings and you know, running for school, standing
Rick Beggs up at these things,
Debbie Wuthnow speaking out. It let it, So God brought good from that. There's something recently, else we talked about that was good that came from Cove
Rick Beggs Well, I'm just thinking in my heart of hearts, I, I think of what really has come out of the medicine world.
Debbie Wuthnow Oh, goodness.
Rick Beggs And you know what everybody said is not good, not good, don't do it, don't take it, don't, you know, and we were just believing one track.
Debbie Wuthnow Follow the
Rick Beggs science. Yeah. Follow the science. And, and all of a sudden now people are more aware.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah.
Rick Beggs Of what they put in their bodies. Yes. And I have friends who, who got the shot. And I'm not trying to do that because a lot of people did it for very
Debbie Wuthnow heroic
Rick Beggs ah.
Navigating a Shifting World: God's Hand in Shaping Nations and Our True Identity in Him
Reasons. so I'm not, I would never do that. Some of my family members got the shot as well. But I just know that, that we have learned so much more about medicine since Cove and that we ought to really listen to more than just the government's voice.
Debbie Wuthnow Really.
Rick Beggs Yeah. I don't know about you, but that's what I'm
Debbie Wuthnow listening. Well, and the whole mo Aha movement, I think it was probably under the radar prior to then, but it's become much more mainstream. So God brings good out of everything.
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow He grows us individually, he opens doors. He shapes nations, guides and directs nations, guides and direct kings. Because he is the king and he's the, the orchestrator up there on that. Have you heard the illustration on that? The like the band leader who's up on the ladder seeing the big picture in the maze. And God sees things we don't see.
Rick Beggs I want to remind everybody as we're talking about this, they may pick up halfway through this show and go, what are they talking
Debbie Wuthnow about?
Rick Beggs because we're, we're really kind of looking back, you know, a week or so later and going, okay, it may not gone our way, it may have gone our way. We don't want to shove that up our enemies faces either. I mean we talked on our last show that in the end, regardless of how the vote goes, we are to love our enemies, we are to love our neighbors. There's a higher calling than whether we got our candidate in. I'm not saying don't vote. I'm not saying don't vote for your candidate. I'm m saying the research. That's right. Let's take the positive side of that. I'm saying vote. I'm saying do the research.
Debbie Wuthnow Don't hinge your future and your identity on who wins or loses is an election. Because there is so much more that's more important.
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow And our identity in Christ is, is key in all of that. I love that we are, we have a purpose and it's, it's the daughter of the king.
God's Handiwork and Purpose: Trusting His Plan and Finding Peace in Our Identity in Christ
It's the works God's called us in advance to do. We are God's handiwork from Ephesians and I love that I, I did a study in handiwork. Could be considered a poem or a work of art. And that's what we are in God's eyes. And he's created those works for us to do. And so my constant prayer is, God, what's that next thing you want me to do?
Rick Beggs Well, let's go back even further. When we were created, we were made in his image. And then when we come to Christ,
Debbie Wuthnow it was good.
Rick Beggs And in Second Corinthians 5, it says, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. And this is truly the gospel's answer to the cultural search for new self. You know,
Rick Beggs I, I truly, I'm so tired of saying somebody, we're talking about truth and they go, well, that's not really my truth. I go, okay, so we're in, in the line of truths out there. Where does yours line up?
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah,
Rick Beggs I, I'm glad, truly glad that my heart has surrendered to Christ. Not perfectly, not well some days, but that I have some, connection to the creator of this earth, the creator of me. And that by following him I can trust him to lead. And by faith understand that he has everything under control, even though it doesn't appear.
Debbie Wuthnow And it gives me hope, right, to know that he's got the plan, he's got the purpose. M. His plans are far better and higher than ours. So trust him with his plan that he will make it accomplish. He will accomplish it, whether through me, through you, through somebody listening. He will make it happen no matter what we do. And so no matter if the results are what I want or some horrible thing happens to me or my family, God is, He's still God. He's still in that and I trust him and that gives me peace and that gives me hope and a great reason to just keep, keep the fight. We frequently at I voter guide will point to a quote from Jon Quincy Adams that says, duty is ours, results are God's.
Duty is Ours, Results are God's: Living Out Our Identity in Christ Amidst Challenges
So do my part. And I mean we've talked about that whole story but you know, he fought for slavery to be abolished for decades. And his, you know, people in the house were like, why give it up, guy? You kept fighting this. Aren't you going to give up? He says, no, this is what God has called me to do and I'm going to keep doing it. But I'm not discouraged that my results not happening. It's. My identity is not in the result of this battle. My identity is in Christ.
Rick Beggs Well, I want to, I kind of want to make sure before we get off the air here that we maybe pray over some of our listeners, mainly because I don't know how they're feeling. you know, depression's a real odd thing in our culture today. It seems so prevalent. But there may be people out there who have no understanding of what it means to have an identity in Christ because they've never turned their life over to them. It. It isn't about politics. It isn't about who won. Do your part. Be a good citizen. Vote, advocate and speak up against evil and those things that are wrong. But in the end, our identity should be found in Jesus alone. That's what defines us, not the outcomes of political votes.
Debbie Wuthnow And that's the truth. It's not based on feelings. It's based on God's word, his character.
The Secure Identity in Jesus: Finding Hope, Purpose, and Hope in God's Unchanging Character
It's secure. It's not fluid. God loves you, and he has a purpose for you. So don't be without hope.
Rick Beggs And I now want to ask you, Debbie, how do you identify yourself?
Debbie Wuthnow I am a daughter of the King.
Rick Beggs Ah.
Debbie Wuthnow Rick.
Rick Beggs Yes, Debbie?
Debbie Wuthnow How do you identify?
Rick Beggs I'm a follower of Christ.
Debbie Wuthnow Oh. Amen.
Rick Beggs Yeah, I. I like how that sounds. I want to be more bold. It
Debbie Wuthnow makes me smile just to say. It's a sense of.
Rick Beggs It's a teary
Debbie Wuthnow purpose. It is. It's a purpose and a full. A higher level of purpose to know all of
Rick Beggs that. I love this phrase. and I kind of wish I would have said it. I wrote it down, but I didn't say it to you when you asked me.
Debbie Wuthnow But you didn't have to say that. No, I just say it.
Rick Beggs I am who God says I am.
Debbie Wuthnow Oh, wow.
Rick Beggs That's it.
Debbie Wuthnow And God says he loves you.
Rick Beggs You know, I do want to close that way.
A Call to Surrender and Hope: Embracing God's Plan and Finding True Identity in Christ
Debbie Wuthnow Do. Why don't you lead us in prayer?
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow Let's pray for our people.
Rick Beggs Lord, I have no idea who's listening today to this program. You do, and I'm so grateful for that. Could, be two of us, just Debbie and I, today on the air. but I want you to know I am so in love with you and want to be, the person that you say that I am, not who others say that I am, not even who I think I am. I want to be who you say that I am. And so I want to ask, Lord, now, that if anybody out there is listening to us, who has not come to you, not understood who they are as an image bearer, as somebody created by God himself, that they would want to come to know you, The Savior, Jesus and Lord I just ask right now that you would prompt your Holy Spirit to speak to those people. Yes. You want us to vote. Yes. You want us to participate in elections. Yes. You want us to hold back evil, but more so, you want our hearts committed to you. So I pray over our listeners now. I pray over Debbie's family and my family. I know I have people in my family who don't know you. And I just pray that their, hearts would be given to you. And so you do your work. We'll continue to pray. And Lord, I just ask today that somebody would enter the kingdom of God because they finally understood their identity comes from you. And we pray this in Jesus name.
Debbie Wuthnow Amen.
Joining the Kingdom of God: Understanding True Identity and Accessing Resources for Growth
Amen. So well said. Don't lose
Rick Beggs hope.
Debbie Wuthnow It is very fun.
Rick Beggs Yeah. You are now a part of the kingdom of God. If you chose to do that today. It's not based on a special prayer. It's really based on a heart surrendering to God and asking that his way for us to be connected to him was through his son, Jesus, who died on a cross, who rose again from the dead, who sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. And, and he wants you to be a part of the kingdom of God. So thank you for listening, to us today. We are so grateful for those of you who take the time either to listen to us when we air or even to listen to us later when you go on the AFR app. And if you don't have it, that's the best way to get our show, as well as all the other shows that AFA offers. You can also go to ivoterguide and you can find it down at the bottom there.
Conclusion: Letting God's Word Guide Our Lives and Finding True North in Christ
Debbie Wuthnow There's a little button. You can click on the little button that says the compass and, click that. See what it. Listen to any shows you want to listen to. I don't think it's available on your phone, but if you do it from your computer, you can listen to the, compass.
Rick Beggs Really? It's not available?
Debbie Wuthnow Well, the button's not on ivoterguide.com on a phone because it covers up your voter guide, which is kind of important. You can listen or I voter guide on your computer. So,
Debbie Wuthnow welcome, brothers and sisters.
Rick Beggs Yeah. And, let's not let the elections determine who we are or how we're going to live. Let's let the word of God do that and the Holy Spirit to guide us. And there will be another election.
Debbie Wuthnow Oh, boy. They're probably coming around the corner. Yeah. All the time. We
Rick Beggs have to air this show. Again just to speak to our own hearts about this. You've been listening to, the official radio show of ivoterguide, which is called the compass. And we are, we are supporting. Supported by afa. We love that we're grounded in God and rooted in research. Our producer is Brent austin. Although Isaac has joined us today,
Debbie Wuthnow he's been a part
Rick Beggs of us. Yeah. And I want you to know that when you participate in the compass, Jesus will always be our true north.
Debbie Wuthnow Amen.
Rick Beggs Thank you for listening.
Debbie Wuthnow See you next week.
Introduction to The Compass Podcast and Call for Listener Support
Debbie Wuthnow Hello, I'm Debbie Wuthnow, co host of the Compass, the official radio program of ivoterguide. Did you know that this content is listener supported? Without people like you, this podcast would not exist. That's why we need you. A generous monthly gift of any amount will help sustain American family Radio. And specifically this podcast, a generous gift to, ivoterguide will help make sure that we're, there for you in the future. Please consider becoming a monthly financial partner today of AFR by visiting afr.net give that's afr.net give
Welcome to The Compass: Navigating the Public Square with Faith and Conviction
Jeff Chamblee welcome to the Compass, navigating the public square together with faith, truth and conviction.
Rick Beggs Well, good to have you on with us today on the program the Compass. You know, the Compass is the official radio show of all iVoterGuide And I just happen to have the president of iVoterGuide who is my co host, Debbie Wnow. Debbie, say hey.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, hey. And I just want to say, I'm pleased to host this with you and Rick Beggs is the name of my co host. If he doesn't say it,
Rick Beggs I never say it. You never
Debbie Wuthnow say your
Post-Election Reflections: Navigating Feelings and Identifying with Political Outcomes
Rick Beggs name? Yeah, I don't want anybody to know I'm in a witness protection program. anyway, we have just come off a very, very busy week with elections and voting and I don't know about you, Debbie. I'm ready to move on.
Debbie Wuthnow I am ready for life to move on. That is correct.
Rick Beggs And, I don't know if our audience is thankful, if they're joyous or if they're depressed. I guess it depends on how your team did this past week
Debbie Wuthnow or your player did. Maybe if it's like fantasy football. You got multiple teams, right? That's right.
Rick Beggs Well, multiple players. Any. But you may be both at the same time because you could have done well.
Debbie Wuthnow How do you.
Rick Beggs State level.
Debbie Wuthnow Both at the same time.
Rick Beggs Well, you could have done well at the state level, but all the federal races or nationally didn't go the way you needed. Or
Debbie Wuthnow maybe your mayor won or lost or something.
Rick Beggs Or maybe everything went well nationally, but something locally. Really?
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah,
Rick Beggs went sideways.
The Trap of Political Identity: Examining How Christians Define Themselves Amidst Election Cycles
I don't know how you're feeling out there, folks, but I know for us, we want to talk specifically about, your state of mind today and really, how you view yourself. Because many Christians, actually a lot of voters, but many Christians included, identify, themselves with politics. But I think we all can kind of fall into that trap. And then we have mood swings based on elections and outcomes.
Debbie Wuthnow So who you are swings with the, the times
Rick Beggs that way. Okay. And I would ask you, Debbie, how do you identify during and before and after the elections?
Debbie Wuthnow Well, I'm going to put it back on you, Rick. How do you identify?
Rick Beggs Well, I think today I identify.
Debbie Wuthnow How do you feel
Rick Beggs as a 12 foot Martian
Debbie Wuthnow today?
Rick Beggs Yeah. How
Debbie Wuthnow about yesterday?
Rick Beggs Yesterday I was more like a labradoodle.
Debbie Wuthnow But do I need to take you outside?
Rick Beggs Yeah, that's right. Anyway, sometimes we find our identity, in the wrong things, and politics is a big one. So, tell me what you think about.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, I will tell you. I kind of proposed this question because I was on a panel recently at a state policy groups, event, and they proposed draft questions for us before we got there. And I just started thinking, and I was thinking about how I would answer them.
Defining Christian Identity Beyond Politics: The True Source of Self in God's Creation
Right. The benefit of knowing the question in advance is fabulous. But, they never got to this question. So this is my opportunity.
Rick Beggs But this one kind of shook you a little bit.
Debbie Wuthnow It shook me. And it, it really, it made me think. It made me think. And so the question was supposed to be, what advice do you have for Christians who are concerned about making politics their identity? And at first I was like, oh, are Christians making politics their identity? I hope not.
Rick Beggs Well, and we inadvertently. Well, I think inwardly we know what the true answer is. But kind of walk us through this, Debbie, as you were formulating an answer for this when that was brought to you,
Debbie Wuthnow well, it started making me think about how do I. What is our identity? You know, like, if somebody says, rick, tell me about yourself. Who are you? We start with
Rick Beggs job.
Debbie Wuthnow job. Yeah, I would say, you know, I'm a mom or I'm a wife or maybe I'm an engineer. Oh, I love the
Rick Beggs Dodgers.
Debbie Wuthnow We went to the same place at the same time. So it could be, you know, what we like, what we do,
Rick Beggs how we view ourselves.
Debbie Wuthnow But, you know, in recent culture, the word identity or identify has been, stolen, tweaked, shifted.
Rick Beggs Yeah. Ah. I think it has a lot to do with how I'm feeling.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Rick Beggs Or what I think about myself, or maybe what I think others think about
Debbie Wuthnow that whole phrase of. And I think gender identity is part of it came to be that, you know, who do you identify as? Am I a woman or I am a man? And that just.
Rick Beggs Well, I think culture is really sort of prompting us that we are the ones that come up with who our true self is or what our truth is, or what's the phrase people would always say to each other? Just follow your heart, Debbie. Just follow your Heart.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah,
Rick Beggs but that's not. That's not what we're talking about, especially as followers of Jesus.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, you know, and scripturally, in Genesis, God created us, male and female. He didn't do it on his feelings.
Foundational Identity in God's Image: Countering Cultural Shifts and Following Our Hearts
He gave it it fact. Our bodies are part of God's design. We are the Omega Day. We are God's image. And that is where I get my identity.
Rick Beggs Yeah. And yet we, when that question is proposed to us, I'm not sure that's my first answer and probably not everybody else's. It should be.
Debbie Wuthnow It should be the core of who we think of ourselves as. But we do get wrapped in so many, layers of jobs that we do, roles that we fulfill. but, you know, following your heart, is shaky ground. Yeah. The heart is deceitful.
Rick Beggs Yes. Scripture is very clear about that. And I think many people today, especially young people, sort of get caught up in their hurts and their searching, in their, you know, they want to have, answers that are fully complete for themselves rather than looking at who created
Debbie Wuthnow well. And they also want to be special and unique. And they don't quite grasp that God created us, each special and unique. And you don't have to deviate from that design to be,
Rick Beggs You don't have to look around. I mean, look at you and then look at me. Not the same person. One has height.
Debbie Wuthnow And I will tell you, watch for an upcoming issue or when the Stand is going to do an article about all the hosts. You can see that, you know, we're all unique
Rick Beggs and we're different heights anyway. It, we're not defined by those things. Even though culture tells us that we are, and especially in regards to gender and what we do and who we think we are, who we think we should be. Christians can get it as wrong as anybody out there,
Debbie Wuthnow 100%. Yeah. we do. And. And let's not point fingers when we do get it wrong. Let's readjust.
Rick Beggs Yeah, Well, I will. I will always point a finger at somebody who's got it wrong. Just
Debbie Wuthnow pointed at me.
Rick Beggs I know, but I. Yeah, purposely. But I. I will never point it back at me because I, of course, I don't think that. Well.
Emotions, Election Outcomes, and Identity: Staying Rooted in Core Beliefs Despite External Results
Debbie Wuthnow And have you heard that when one frigate points out, three or four are pointing back?
Rick Beggs Okay. Yeah, mom, thanks for that. but I. I think we just tend to go with those feelings, those thoughts about who we are, what our identity is. And because we just came off the elections, we tend to believe if we won or we lost, you know, our team is identified now is the winners or the losers. And somehow that should change who we are. But
Debbie Wuthnow it doesn't. Nope.
Rick Beggs Not at all.
Debbie Wuthnow Not at all. I will tell you. I was telling you, I have a sticker that I got. I don't remember where I got it from, and it says, I identify as a patriot. And I thought, you know, of all those identify as men and women, and I put it on my water bottle and we were at a family vacation and a Gen Z family member, cousinish. It's like, I really like your sticker. Now, this cousin is in the liberal range. She, you know, had some trans friends she'd bought at previous engagements. But it's, I kind of liked the twist on the current lingo to say, you know, I, I do. I love America. So I am a patriot, but it is not the core of who I am.
Rick Beggs Right. And. And I think we can layer on ourselves when we know what the core of us is, the things that we do. Like, it, could be pizza, it could be baseball, could be Motown. It could be just about anything else that we enjoy.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah.
Rick Beggs But that's not who we are at our core.
Debbie Wuthnow Right.
Heavenly Citizenship and God's Sovereignty: Trusting His Plan Through All Circumstances
Rick Beggs And actually this is not our eternity here. This is. We're heading towards.
Debbie Wuthnow Our citizenship is American, but it's also in heaven.
Rick Beggs In heaven. And that far outweighs America.
Debbie Wuthnow It's, a far better place to be.
Rick Beggs I, I'm always concerned too, after elections that now performance, somehow is going to redirect how I think or believe or feel. And it shouldn't. I should already be rooted in those things. But politics and elections and outcomes have a way of distorting those types of things.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, and we always have. I mean, we work towards a goal. Right. We have a goal we're striving for and we want to have happen. But God works through all of it. He works through kings, he works through elections, he works through sinners, he works through believers. And even if it's not what we wanted to have happen happen, God's will will be accomplished. Right. So no matter if it's the way we wanted it to go, I look back at the 2020 election, a lot of Christians didn't like the results of that. But I think God worked through that to get us to where we are today.
Rick Beggs I'm not sure we would have had, the president we have now.
Debbie Wuthnow He wouldn't have been prepared.
Rick Beggs No. To
Debbie Wuthnow know what to do.
Rick Beggs Prepared than he was the last time.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah. And even, you know,
Rick Beggs and believe me, he's.
Enduring Identity Amidst Disappointment: Knowing Who You Are Regardless of Life's Outcomes
He is a Flawed man.
Debbie Wuthnow As are we all.
Rick Beggs But we all are correct.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah. But, I think the question to think about is if the outcome is not what I want, the election didn't go the way I wanted. Maybe, a job didn't go the way I wanted, or a marriage didn't go the way I wanted. Do I still know who I am? Does that change who I am at my core and at my essence?
Rick Beggs Yeah. And the answer is no, it should not.
Debbie Wuthnow Right.
Rick Beggs But that's where we kind of get on shaky ground because we have put the emphasis, well,
Debbie Wuthnow let's get back on solid ground.
Rick Beggs Okay. Take me there.
Solid Ground in God's Word: Discovering Identity as Children of the King and Christ's Ambassadors
Debbie Wuthnow Well, when I go to solid ground, I go to God's word.
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow And what does the Bible say about who I am? I am a daughter of the king.
Rick Beggs You're an image bearer.
Debbie Wuthnow I am. I'm created in God's image. Male and female. He created them. He gives us all dignity. He. He calls us his children. He plans in advance all the works ordained for us from Psalms 139, even before 1 of them came to be.
Rick Beggs Well, and you know the, the word dignity, somehow we feel that somebody outside of us should give that to us, when actually we don't really internalize it until we come to Christ and surrender to Him. And now He's a manifestation out of us of our personal dignity because we are made in his image. Wow.
Debbie Wuthnow let Christ flow through you in all that you do.
Rick Beggs And we've been chosen
Debbie Wuthnow and adopted. I like it.
Rick Beggs I know. And
Debbie Wuthnow given a job.
Rick Beggs That's right. and I think you said this already, but out of 1st Peter, it says he calls us a chosen people, a royal priesthood. I don't know how much more dignity you can have than to be recognized as that,
Debbie Wuthnow as a priest, as a rep. Well, the, the, the calling, I guess, or the, the job description that I, I, resonates very well with me, and it's kind of political, but not is that we are Christ's ambassadors and comes from Second Corinthians, an ambassador is a representative of the country they come from. Right. But they're living in another kingdom.
Rick Beggs That's right.
Debbie Wuthnow And we are Christ's ambassadors of the kingdom, but living in this fallen world that God planted us in to represent Him. Right. Which means we need to represent, to live out, to be a testimony, both through words, deeds and action. I guess deeds and actions are the same things, but. Yeah.
Balancing Faith and Action: The Importance of Voting and Engaging in the World
Rick Beggs Well, I also don't want to get too far off the mark here to say, well, then God already knows. He already has chosen Me, I'm, whoa. I don't really need to vote. I don't need to be that person
Debbie Wuthnow because
Rick Beggs you can kind of get yourself moving the wrong direction or fully in a direction that causes you to quit living here on earth and you're just heavenly minded. You're no earthly good. That's right. And, and I want people to be real careful about that because we believe we've been called to help encourage people to vote. And that's why we have I voter guide because it gives people the chance to look at research that they could never have done for themselves so they can vote wisely. And of course we want, as believers, we want to vote our biblical worldview. But that doesn't mean that God always brings us candidates to choose that have that and, or that all those biblical worldview candidates win
Debbie Wuthnow because they
Rick Beggs don't.
Debbie Wuthnow They don't.
Rick Beggs And so you can kind of wallow in, oh, God, where are you in this? Would it. None of this catches God by surprise. It's not like he didn't show up and go, oh my gosh, I was over watching a, ah, car race over in Monaco. I totally, totally forgot about the elections in the United States. What I'm just saying, you know, like we do as humans, we
Debbie Wuthnow will
Rick Beggs forget this and would, you know, oh, sorry I forgot
Debbie Wuthnow it
Rick Beggs was your birthday.
God's Overarching Plan: Finding Good in Difficult Times and Learning from Experiences
Debbie Wuthnow Life was going on my anniversary. Oops.
Rick Beggs And that's not God. God is doing all at the same time
Debbie Wuthnow well. And he has the, the big picture. Right. We can get trapped in the weeds sometimes and lose sight of the overarching plan that God has for this kingdom and for each of us individually that requires certain elements to happen to make other elements happen. Right. I mean we got so angry at Covid. But look at the good that came from that whole experience. I think it woke up, the whole parents rights educational movement came out of schools being forced to be virtual and parents seeing what their kids were being taught. And God brought good from that.
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow And getting people engaged in what's going on in the schools and attending school board meetings and you know, running for school, standing
Rick Beggs up at these things,
Debbie Wuthnow speaking out. It let it, So God brought good from that. There's something recently, else we talked about that was good that came from Cove
Rick Beggs Well, I'm just thinking in my heart of hearts, I, I think of what really has come out of the medicine world.
Debbie Wuthnow Oh, goodness.
Rick Beggs And you know what everybody said is not good, not good, don't do it, don't take it, don't, you know, and we were just believing one track.
Debbie Wuthnow Follow the
Rick Beggs science. Yeah. Follow the science. And, and all of a sudden now people are more aware.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah.
Rick Beggs Of what they put in their bodies. Yes. And I have friends who, who got the shot. And I'm not trying to do that because a lot of people did it for very
Debbie Wuthnow heroic
Rick Beggs ah.
Navigating a Shifting World: God's Hand in Shaping Nations and Our True Identity in Him
Reasons. so I'm not, I would never do that. Some of my family members got the shot as well. But I just know that, that we have learned so much more about medicine since Cove and that we ought to really listen to more than just the government's voice.
Debbie Wuthnow Really.
Rick Beggs Yeah. I don't know about you, but that's what I'm
Debbie Wuthnow listening. Well, and the whole mo Aha movement, I think it was probably under the radar prior to then, but it's become much more mainstream. So God brings good out of everything.
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow He grows us individually, he opens doors. He shapes nations, guides and directs nations, guides and direct kings. Because he is the king and he's the, the orchestrator up there on that. Have you heard the illustration on that? The like the band leader who's up on the ladder seeing the big picture in the maze. And God sees things we don't see.
Rick Beggs I want to remind everybody as we're talking about this, they may pick up halfway through this show and go, what are they talking
Debbie Wuthnow about?
Rick Beggs because we're, we're really kind of looking back, you know, a week or so later and going, okay, it may not gone our way, it may have gone our way. We don't want to shove that up our enemies faces either. I mean we talked on our last show that in the end, regardless of how the vote goes, we are to love our enemies, we are to love our neighbors. There's a higher calling than whether we got our candidate in. I'm not saying don't vote. I'm not saying don't vote for your candidate. I'm m saying the research. That's right. Let's take the positive side of that. I'm saying vote. I'm saying do the research.
Debbie Wuthnow Don't hinge your future and your identity on who wins or loses is an election. Because there is so much more that's more important.
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow And our identity in Christ is, is key in all of that. I love that we are, we have a purpose and it's, it's the daughter of the king.
God's Handiwork and Purpose: Trusting His Plan and Finding Peace in Our Identity in Christ
It's the works God's called us in advance to do. We are God's handiwork from Ephesians and I love that I, I did a study in handiwork. Could be considered a poem or a work of art. And that's what we are in God's eyes. And he's created those works for us to do. And so my constant prayer is, God, what's that next thing you want me to do?
Rick Beggs Well, let's go back even further. When we were created, we were made in his image. And then when we come to Christ,
Debbie Wuthnow it was good.
Rick Beggs And in Second Corinthians 5, it says, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. And this is truly the gospel's answer to the cultural search for new self. You know,
Rick Beggs I, I truly, I'm so tired of saying somebody, we're talking about truth and they go, well, that's not really my truth. I go, okay, so we're in, in the line of truths out there. Where does yours line up?
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah,
Rick Beggs I, I'm glad, truly glad that my heart has surrendered to Christ. Not perfectly, not well some days, but that I have some, connection to the creator of this earth, the creator of me. And that by following him I can trust him to lead. And by faith understand that he has everything under control, even though it doesn't appear.
Debbie Wuthnow And it gives me hope, right, to know that he's got the plan, he's got the purpose. M. His plans are far better and higher than ours. So trust him with his plan that he will make it accomplish. He will accomplish it, whether through me, through you, through somebody listening. He will make it happen no matter what we do. And so no matter if the results are what I want or some horrible thing happens to me or my family, God is, He's still God. He's still in that and I trust him and that gives me peace and that gives me hope and a great reason to just keep, keep the fight. We frequently at I voter guide will point to a quote from Jon Quincy Adams that says, duty is ours, results are God's.
Duty is Ours, Results are God's: Living Out Our Identity in Christ Amidst Challenges
So do my part. And I mean we've talked about that whole story but you know, he fought for slavery to be abolished for decades. And his, you know, people in the house were like, why give it up, guy? You kept fighting this. Aren't you going to give up? He says, no, this is what God has called me to do and I'm going to keep doing it. But I'm not discouraged that my results not happening. It's. My identity is not in the result of this battle. My identity is in Christ.
Rick Beggs Well, I want to, I kind of want to make sure before we get off the air here that we maybe pray over some of our listeners, mainly because I don't know how they're feeling. you know, depression's a real odd thing in our culture today. It seems so prevalent. But there may be people out there who have no understanding of what it means to have an identity in Christ because they've never turned their life over to them. It. It isn't about politics. It isn't about who won. Do your part. Be a good citizen. Vote, advocate and speak up against evil and those things that are wrong. But in the end, our identity should be found in Jesus alone. That's what defines us, not the outcomes of political votes.
Debbie Wuthnow And that's the truth. It's not based on feelings. It's based on God's word, his character.
The Secure Identity in Jesus: Finding Hope, Purpose, and Hope in God's Unchanging Character
It's secure. It's not fluid. God loves you, and he has a purpose for you. So don't be without hope.
Rick Beggs And I now want to ask you, Debbie, how do you identify yourself?
Debbie Wuthnow I am a daughter of the King.
Rick Beggs Ah.
Debbie Wuthnow Rick.
Rick Beggs Yes, Debbie?
Debbie Wuthnow How do you identify?
Rick Beggs I'm a follower of Christ.
Debbie Wuthnow Oh. Amen.
Rick Beggs Yeah, I. I like how that sounds. I want to be more bold. It
Debbie Wuthnow makes me smile just to say. It's a sense of.
Rick Beggs It's a teary
Debbie Wuthnow purpose. It is. It's a purpose and a full. A higher level of purpose to know all of
Rick Beggs that. I love this phrase. and I kind of wish I would have said it. I wrote it down, but I didn't say it to you when you asked me.
Debbie Wuthnow But you didn't have to say that. No, I just say it.
Rick Beggs I am who God says I am.
Debbie Wuthnow Oh, wow.
Rick Beggs That's it.
Debbie Wuthnow And God says he loves you.
Rick Beggs You know, I do want to close that way.
A Call to Surrender and Hope: Embracing God's Plan and Finding True Identity in Christ
Debbie Wuthnow Do. Why don't you lead us in prayer?
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow Let's pray for our people.
Rick Beggs Lord, I have no idea who's listening today to this program. You do, and I'm so grateful for that. Could, be two of us, just Debbie and I, today on the air. but I want you to know I am so in love with you and want to be, the person that you say that I am, not who others say that I am, not even who I think I am. I want to be who you say that I am. And so I want to ask, Lord, now, that if anybody out there is listening to us, who has not come to you, not understood who they are as an image bearer, as somebody created by God himself, that they would want to come to know you, The Savior, Jesus and Lord I just ask right now that you would prompt your Holy Spirit to speak to those people. Yes. You want us to vote. Yes. You want us to participate in elections. Yes. You want us to hold back evil, but more so, you want our hearts committed to you. So I pray over our listeners now. I pray over Debbie's family and my family. I know I have people in my family who don't know you. And I just pray that their, hearts would be given to you. And so you do your work. We'll continue to pray. And Lord, I just ask today that somebody would enter the kingdom of God because they finally understood their identity comes from you. And we pray this in Jesus name.
Debbie Wuthnow Amen.
Joining the Kingdom of God: Understanding True Identity and Accessing Resources for Growth
Amen. So well said. Don't lose
Rick Beggs hope.
Debbie Wuthnow It is very fun.
Rick Beggs Yeah. You are now a part of the kingdom of God. If you chose to do that today. It's not based on a special prayer. It's really based on a heart surrendering to God and asking that his way for us to be connected to him was through his son, Jesus, who died on a cross, who rose again from the dead, who sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. And, and he wants you to be a part of the kingdom of God. So thank you for listening, to us today. We are so grateful for those of you who take the time either to listen to us when we air or even to listen to us later when you go on the AFR app. And if you don't have it, that's the best way to get our show, as well as all the other shows that AFA offers. You can also go to ivoterguide and you can find it down at the bottom there.
Conclusion: Letting God's Word Guide Our Lives and Finding True North in Christ
Debbie Wuthnow There's a little button. You can click on the little button that says the compass and, click that. See what it. Listen to any shows you want to listen to. I don't think it's available on your phone, but if you do it from your computer, you can listen to the, compass.
Rick Beggs Really? It's not available?
Debbie Wuthnow Well, the button's not on ivoterguide.com on a phone because it covers up your voter guide, which is kind of important. You can listen or I voter guide on your computer. So,
Debbie Wuthnow welcome, brothers and sisters.
Rick Beggs Yeah. And, let's not let the elections determine who we are or how we're going to live. Let's let the word of God do that and the Holy Spirit to guide us. And there will be another election.
Debbie Wuthnow Oh, boy. They're probably coming around the corner. Yeah. All the time. We
Rick Beggs have to air this show. Again just to speak to our own hearts about this. You've been listening to, the official radio show of ivoterguide, which is called the compass. And we are, we are supporting. Supported by afa. We love that we're grounded in God and rooted in research. Our producer is Brent austin. Although Isaac has joined us today,
Debbie Wuthnow he's been a part
Rick Beggs of us. Yeah. And I want you to know that when you participate in the compass, Jesus will always be our true north.
Debbie Wuthnow Amen.
Rick Beggs Thank you for listening.
Debbie Wuthnow See you next week.
After a week of elections, it’s easy to feel that the results say something about who we are—or to let a political win or loss determine our hope and outlook. On this episode of The Compass, hosts Rick and Debbie reflect on the temptation to make politics our identity and ask a deeper question: Who are we when life doesn’t go the way we hoped?
They discuss the difference between the roles, interests, and labels that shape everyday life and the deeper identity Christians find in God. Drawing on Scripture, they describe believers as created in God’s image, adopted as His children, and called to represent Christ as ambassadors. Elections and civic engagement matter, they say, but neither political outcomes nor personal setbacks define a person’s worth or purpose.
Rick and Debbie also talk about trusting God’s sovereignty through disappointment, continuing to vote and speak up, and finding hope in the belief that God can bring good from difficult seasons. The conversation closes with prayer and an invitation to consider an identity rooted not in feelings or results, but in Christ.
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