What does election day really decide?
Today is a big day for the world. Perhaps bigger than most understand. In a time where internal divisions are so marked, and the temptation to align with a “side” against others is so strong, those of us who claim to follow a King need to stop and ask ourselves a few questions:
- Regardless of what we say, do our words and actions speak to our loyalty to the Kingdom of God, or to a specific group of Americans?
- Are we praying daily for the results of the elections to bring peace and work to the benefit of the Kingdom?
- Do we speak of our King and the forgiveness He offers more often than we do a political leader or set of policies?
- Do we actively love those in this country with whom we disagree? (Is that love practical enough that they can see it?)
If the answer to these questions is “No”, we need to decide something else this election day.
Explaining the parable of the sower, Jesus contrasted the Word falling on thorny soil and on fertile soil this way:
The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:22-23, NIV)
Notice Jesus says the thorns were both the worries of this life AND what we think of as the opposite—the wealth. Those who hear the word and understand it recognize that both problems and blessings in this world too easily distract us from the Kingdom.
No matter who wins the House, the Senate, the Governorships–they will not have the answers we need. Only our King has those answers. Are we willing to say this?
Maybe today can decide more than election issues. Maybe it can help us decide whether we really believe in the Kingdom—and the King!—and to begin to live that way.
Know Jesus and Be Faithful!