A Vote with value
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“Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me.” —Psalm 24:4–5
I will be happy to see Halloween come and go this week. Even more, I will be happy to see election day come and go. I have no idea how many texts have come to my phone these past weeks, but I agree with the person who said, “I will vote for anyone who will promise never to text me again!”
Voting is a privilege, but it has also become a chore. There are very few candidates that I am excited to cast my vote for. There are very few candidates that I really hope will be elected. We need more genuine, Spirit-led Christians to run for office. I want to Google them and learn that they have been going to church for many years. I want to hear about the Sunday school class they have taught or other ways they have served God in their lives. I want to vote for people who don’t use the Lord as a photo-op or a political pawn. I want to vote for people who walk with the Lord and are led daily by his Holy Spirit.
I want to vote my values, but that is tough to do these days.
We should take our values to the voting booth anyway
I always vote. Even though I stand in front of a list of names I don’t know and probably never will. I vote! Voting is a privilege and a responsibility, and I do take it seriously. I Google candidates and make a list of the names I will vote for. You can learn a lot about someone in office if you just read the third page of articles on your search engine. The third page usually has more real information and less political propaganda.
I don’t always get to vote my Christian values because sometimes I need to vote for ability instead of character. Sometimes policy matters most. Often, Christian values have guided their policy decisions, even when it isn’t their personal opinion. But, I would always rather be able to vote for someone with Christian character and good ideas for this country.
I try to vote for what is best for the country in national elections. In state elections, I allow myself to vote for some of my personal preferences and hopes.
What do American politics teach Christians about our gospel message?
I wish Christians would be as publicly passionate about Jesus as they are about their favorite candidate! I’m talking about myself here as well. I enjoy a good conversation about American politics and politicians. It’s interesting, and it’s helpful to hear other people’s positions. Sometimes those conversations have changed my vote, but not often. We have been a stronger nation because there are two sides of government. Accountability was woven into our political system, and it has served us well. I hope that will remain true in the future.
The big difference between Christianity and American politics is that Christians have a King. We have only one candidate to follow and vote for. Matthew 27:37 tells us that when Jesus was nailed to his cross, there was a sign placed over his head which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” It was intended to be a slander, but they were really identifying Jesus that day.
The angels in heaven worship Jesus: “And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, ‘Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!’” (Revelation 15:3). Jesus is seated on his throne and “On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16).
When is the last time you had a conversation with someone about voting to make Christ their King?
Lee Hamilton’s conversations
Lee Hamilton was a member of the House of Representatives for thirty-four years. He wrote an interesting article titled Why Voters Vote As They Do. He interviewed a variety of people for the article and received a variety of answers. Hamilton concludes his article saying, “An election was coming up, and I asked a man striding past me how he planned to vote. He was supporting the same ticket I was running on, he told me, adding, ‘I vote for the candidate I think will help the ordinary guy.’ That’s a very American sentiment: We back candidates we think will bear our interests in mind and reflect our concerns. However we define them.”
I hope you will read his entire article. I couldn’t help but think about the similar reasons people vote for Jesus as their King. One of the downsides of living in a democracy is that people often want to treat their faith in God and his Word as a list of choices to vote for or against. This election season might be a good time to talk about Christ as our King. People need to know they have a choice to make, but there is only one Name on the ballot.
I wish the Holy Spirit would send texts
We have one more week of unwanted political texts to endure. Then we should have a little bit of peace for a couple of years. America will continue to have elections, and Americans will continue to debate the choices.
Imagine if we could assign the Holy Spirit a specific sound on our phones so he could text us his thoughts and plans. We would hopefully run to our phones to read those words, knowing that our King is allowed to govern our lives at all times. I wish the Holy Spirit would text me his list of names to vote for.
Even then, every person we vote for in any political election is simply a fallen human being like us. It is comforting to know that we have made the one crucial vote of faith for the only perfect candidate we will ever know. We can place some hope in our political system, but we can place eternal hope in Jesus.
This might be the perfect week to find ways to lift his holy name to the top of our priority list. Someone you speak with about voting this week might still need to elect their King. Every conversation is a chance to vote our values. We will discuss politicians we hope will do a good job, but shouldn’t we give a higher priority to speaking about the certain hope we have in our King of kings?
Let’s give someone a chance to place their faith in Jesus this week. That is the vote with the highest value!
First15, our sister brand has released a guided prayer on navigating politics with kingdom-minded faith. I pray that God will use it to give you his wisdom as you prepare to vote in this election cycle.
