I write this tonight as I am reminded of a brutal election, and many Pastors took the position that Christians should not concern themselves with the “things of the world”.
As a principled conservative, who believes in a Lord God honoring culture, I feel it is only right to cast a vote for the representative who will best represent my views.
Now of course I do realize, that the Lord God of Israel is still on His throne and will allow or disallow whomever and whatever he chooses to do, and it is my ultimate goal to indeed follow Him first in all that I do, with His leading in my life to the best of my ability.
What I do not comprehend, is if I vote for the one who most closely represents the majority of my personal convictions, how than could I be wrong? If my representative in this fight would lose an election, that would not diminish my faith in the Lord in the least. Neither would it diminish who I am.
So why are so many condemned as not being a true follower of Jesus Christ, being that they cast a conscientious vote, and some are condemned for not voting as well? To not vote is a matter of the will, as is the decision to vote. But since I am speaking about voting as being worldly, allow me to continue with my assessment. To me it is an absurd position to be condemned for voting, even if that leader turns out to walk in wickedness at a later date. That would also have no reflection on me or the principles which I hold dear as a person.
Rather it is my feeling that it is the one who does not know who they are, or what they believe in is the issue. Many of which are being tossed around by the every wind of change, the newest viewpoint or teaching, the polls, these are the most ungrounded and unprincipled types of people to me, often projecting onto others a type of false guilt, for being involved in the marketplace of ideas.
If one is so disgusted by politics and politicians, then don’t vote, don’t hold an opinion about the world stage, or events of your time. Be a fatalist if you like, and just trust in your Lord, and simply move forward with your life. That is fine with me, but how dare this type of characters cast aspersions on other brethren, who may be involved in their community’s policies, of being less than committed to following the Lord in all good conscience. To my way of thinking, that is passing the wrong type of judgment, while projecting oneself to being beyond reproach within their personal spiritual walk.
Of course no man, no matter how well-intentioned, will ever be able to obtain flawless governance (as only God could do that). Yet the real question is what is the character of a leader, and how well can they complete a given task. Leadership is measured by results, and destructiveness and waste has never been the sign of a good leader. So if you are fortunate enough to have a say in who will be a leader, (and many do not) why then would you sit ideally bye especially when given a direction you don’t agree with?
I feel we are to be good stewards of what we have been given, extending outside of just our homes, to “down the street” and beyond in all we have been made stewards of. Speaking as a retired military man; in no small way within our Republic should we not be proactive in protecting what we have been given.
The bottom line is, if you feel led to vote, vote, if not then take a pass, but lets not confuse discernment with judgment. Jesus said to render unto Caesar what was Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s, when he was being trapped by the Pharisees. So there is no shame in us doing the same.
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