Vote for the right Lord

“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” Romans 13:1 NIV

Mid term elections are happening tomorrow. I wanted to write this before I knew any results. Like many of you, I will not miss the barrage of information on the television, radio and in my mailbox. I wonder how much good could be done with the amount of money spent on mail that gets thrown away as soon as it gets touched.

Let me state up front, I am a registered Independent. I am not here to promote any candidate who may have won. I am not here to bemoan any candidate who lost. I am just burdened by the process. I am troubled by the division.

I watched “60 minutes” last weekend and they featured a story about just that, division in our country. Their findings were interesting. They found that on the spectrum from extreme conservative to extreme liberal around 7% of the total people made the most “noise” if it is okay to call it that, per side. That means that 14% of the people make the most noise. The rest of us get tired of listening to it or assume that the news we hear reflects the majority of opinions and in the worst cases we just disengage due to it.

As tomorrow night approaches you will see some candidates concede elections and offer congratulations to the person they were just campaigning against. You will see victorious candidates surrounded by people who believe they just elected the person who may solve all of this mess.

My only point in this is that we should be careful how much confidence we place on anyone, elected or otherwise. If our faith is in a person, our faith is misplaced. If we put our faith in a political party, our faith is misplaced. If we put our faith in our country, our faith is misplaced. People fail. People die. People lose elections. People win elections. Countries can fall. One potential positive about our current political climate is that it seems that more people are voting. That is a great thing. We really should have 90% or better voter turnout.

But in the meantime, how much love are we conveying to the people around us. If we listen to the 7% or so on either end of either party and choose an action based on that, I think we miss the point. I think too often we look at favored candidates as good and candidates we do not prefer as evil. I think we become too impacted by the thought that any candidate can possibly solve every issue or too convinced that any candidate cannot possibly do anything positive.

Jesus could have been a political figure but was not. He could have overthrown the Roman government even as powerful as it was. He didn’t. He did condemn those who were in power at the time. He admonished them for their lack of love. He did not want outward appearance and ritualized behavior. He wanted changed hearts.

How will we respond to the result of election day? Will we respond with love whether our candidate won or lost?

Will we let our faith be shaken by the results of an election God already knew the result of?

Challenge: Leadership is important. Policies are important. Unity is important. But I think sometimes God let’s the differences in viewpoint challenge us. If our hope is in a candidate, we may have created an idol that God may just remove. Jesus Christ is important, and He loves every single candidate and every single citizen. No party has a monopoly on Him.

Rick Claiborn