After months of punditry and political ads that have you seeing cross-eyed, November 6th is upon us.
At this moment of truth, what should a Christian do? It goes without saying—make sure you exercise your right to vote! But don’t leave it at that. You’d have to be living on a remote desert island not to know there will be many challenges facing our nation and the church in America (and worldwide) in the next few years; so now is a good time to think about what our role as believers should be both individually and corporately.
Complacency is one luxury we cannot afford, whether in the voting booth or the prayer closet. The Bible never says anything good about complacency. But I know there are people who feel their votes don’t count, “I’ll sit this one out”, and they often confuse God’s sovereignty with fatalism. After all, God’s on the throne and He’s gonna do what He’s gonna do, right? The more Biblically accurate point of view goes something like this: We are to pray for His will to be done, as we also carry it out as empowered by the Holy Spirit. That’s a far cry from fatalism. One of my favorite Bible teachers, Warren Wiersbe puts it like this:
“Fatalism is belief in an impersonal force that’s working out its blind but inevitable purposes in this world… One is tempted to ask, ‘If it’s inevitable, why can we resist it or choose not to accept it?’ [But] The Christian believer’s faith is in a personal God who plans for us the very best.”
You know what? God’s intention is for the Church express His mind and heart to the culture. His heart and mind expressed as a poem of good works and love which we were created in advance to do, according to Ephesians 2:10. His purpose is to reveal His wisdom through the Church, according to Ephesians 3:10. And He’s given us giftings and abilities to accomplish these very things and to build people up in their faith, according to Ephesians 4:11-12.
So it’s time to recommit ourselves to take these purposes and gifts seriously. I like concepts in 3’s, so I thought of a variation on the title of the book by Elizabeth Griffin, to help us participate responsibly in our culture and country:
PRAY – Pray that God would grant our leaders wisdom, clarity and humility before Him– and keep praying after the election! It’s not enough to pray for the right leaders to get into office. We’re also commanded to pray for all leaders that are placed in office. (I Timothy 2:1-4) Pray for Christ-followers individually and corporately to be open to His voice, to repent when necessary of our own sins, and to recommit our lives to serving Him wholeheartedly.
VOTE – Vote your Biblical values and faith. Make the most of the voice you have been given in our system of government. God put you here for such a time as this—make the most of every opportunity. Remember, voting is stewardship so be sure you’re a faithful one.
LOVE – Boldly love, especially those with whom you disagree, by serving them with good works and modeling the truth you have been taught. Loving someone doesn’t mean shying away from the truth, but it does mean expressing the truth in love. Being tactful, respectful and considerate is the mark of love, and tempers the the sometimes hard edge of truth. (Romans 13:1-6) Civility is one of the social graces that shouldn’t be lost on us, of all people:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is now law.” -Galatians 5:22
We might have to be more intentional to build these things into our lives; but the times are a-calling for us to do just that.
Pray, Vote, Love. November 2018 and beyond.
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