We are fast approaching a presidential election.  Yet, it is far more than that.  We will vote on federal and state representatives and senators.  We will decide on important issues through various amendments that have a huge impact on the life of our nation both nationally and locally.  Elections are important.  They determine the laws of the land and are our opportunity to have some input into the direction we want our nation to go morally, financially, and ideologically.  Unless you’re a fatalist or a cultural separatist, you have a civic privilege, if not a civic duty to vote for your values and be an active citizen in the life of the nation the Lord has placed you.

Allow me to share some principles that help us to think properly about elections and to have more confidence in how, or even whether, we vote this November.

  • First, as a believer we are first and foremost citizens of the Kingdom of God; this world is not our home.  We are strangers and aliens passing through, as Peter puts it.  As such, our supreme allegiance is always to the Lord, Jesus Christ.  Our understanding of His Word forms our worldview and must be followed above every human idea or creed.  Therefore, our faith must inform our vote above all else.
  • As such, Christians must always vote their values above mere party platforms or affiliations.  Several times in the Old and New Testaments the believer is instructed to pursue righteousness.  This isn’t referring to the saving righteousness which is imputed to us when we first believed in Christ; it is referring to the believer pursuing that which is good and right in the Lord’s sight; those beliefs and actions which are closest to His holy, righteous character.  The collective power of God’s people living Christ-centered lives within a nation is inestimable.  “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”  (Prov. 14:34)  We who have tasted of the goodness, purity, and holiness of our Lord see the vast disparity between what our nation ought to be and what it is, between the cesspool of political rhetoric and corruption and the holiness of our God and the Kingdom on earth He desires.  Our tendency is to want to separate ourselves from this messy, complicated world and to cocoon into the safety of our faith communities rather than engage this fallen, messy world with the gospel.  One part of what it means to be salt and light in a dark, decaying world is the opportunity we have to vote for those who will represent us and to vote for or against those ballot initiatives so that the laws of the land align to the greatest degree with the Word of God.   I understand some believers’ desire to avoid all political discussions and elections, but if you don’t vote as a spirit-filled, born-again believer, you are allowing the unregenerate to decide the direction of our nation and the laws of our land.  That seems like a poor stewardship of my life and influence to be completely silent and passive concerning determining the laws of our land when I have been given this awesome privilege by the Constitution.
  • Since, as believers we are voting for policies and persons who best represent our  Christian values and worldview, I would recommend limiting our political activism to the issues and not making it about persons.  We all feel the temptation to post or repost memes and videos that cast our preferred candidate in the best light and the other candidate in the worst light.   We are instructed to be at peace with all men (and women) in Romans 12 and to pursue peace with all men in Hebrews 12.  Peter lays out how the believer is to interact and relate to the society they find themselves in I Peter 3;  “To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, loving, compassionate, and humble; 9 not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you would inherit a blessing. 10 For,“The one who desires life, to love and see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. 11 He must turn away from evil and do good; He must seek peace and pursue it.” So, at the end of the day, the political system of our nation is a part of this temporal, fallen world that will pass away.  When we’ve been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no reason to discuss our political preferences, because politics will be an obsolete vestige of a bygone world.  Yet, the precious kinship we have because of our common faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will endure forever.  In light of that, know that I value fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord, even if they differ with my political views, as infinitely more valuable than my temporal political preferences on this side of heaven.
  • Next, I would encourage you to be informed and to understand the issues and candidates you’re voting for.  If you have only listened to the public soundbites and not researched the issues, perhaps it’s not wise to vote for or against something or someone you haven’t adequately researched.
  • Finally, don’t get caught up in the media propaganda that would seek to discourage you from voting your values.  There is an unfortunate campaign going on that seeks to silence believers’ opinions in the public square and create a stereotype of conservative, Christian voters as “threats to democracy”.  This rhetoric is unfair, untrue, and quite dangerous.  Their desired goal with this repeated propaganda is obvious; it is to convince the average person of faith that their preferred party and values are “Anti-American”, wrong, and out of vogue with the hopes that it will discourage them from voicing and voting for their values.  Another term used in this effort to silence conservative voters is to label conservative voters as “Christian Nationalists”.  Again, it is a pejorative term to sway popular opinion against conservative voters and to stereotype all conservative voters as radical seditionists who are a threat to the American way of life; as though every conservative voter is complicit with the most radical fringe of their party.  Of course, none of us who name the name of Christ want to be associated with such lawless and anarchical behavior.  Believer, if you cave to the pressure of this line of propaganda you only have one logical choice; become completely apolitical, choosing not to vote for your values.  The term Christian Nationalist should only mean that a person is a Christian who also happens to love their country and wants it to provide the best life possible for the greatest number of people, including being a shining light to other nations whose citizens desperately desire the liberties and opportunities we Americans enjoy every day.  Christian, please don’t be intimidated by these labels and stereotypes into not voting for your values this November.   Get informed and vote your conscience and your values.