I hesitate to even post this. Possibly by the time I do, it may be irrelevant but after praying about it I felt I should. I also understand that this is a very sensitive subject for many people and many are passionate about their opinions on this matter. You may have negative feedback for me at the end of this, and I’m ok with that.
As I’m writing this, ballots for the 2020 Elections are still being counted (this is day 4 of counting). We may be getting close to an official report of who the next President of the United States of America will be. When the announcement is made nearly half of the country will be ecstatic and the other half will be angry, disappointed, ready to riot, ready to leave the country, and ready to hate their neighbor for not voting their way. But 100% of the people who put their complete faith and hope in this elected official will be disappointed by this person. Because they’re just that. They’re people. Imperfect, flawed people.
I’ve been watching social media leading up to this vote and I have to say that I’m very disappointed in my fellow man, particularly my Christian brothers and sisters who, for some reason believe that because they’re a Christian and an American the party they support is anointed by God Himself. As if to say “God is a (fill in your party here).” This angers and saddens me, and this morning as I was praying about this situation 1 Samuel Chapter 8 came to mind.
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
1 Samuel 8:4-9
Then what follows is a list of all the freedoms they will lose. Their children will essentially become slaves to the king. They will be taxed on everything. The king will do whatever he pleases, and the people will have to comply. God paints a very bleak picture of what a human-based government will look like. But the people still want it! They fill out their ballots and cast their votes for a king to lead them. Ok, they didn’t actually fill out ballots. They just shouted at Samuel.
And they got a king. And they regretted it. Occasionally a good king comes along in the history of Israel, but by and large, the kings are a disappointment and do exactly what God warned them would happen, sometimes to horrendous extremes.
Ok, I think I should get to the point. I’m not saying having a president or government is wrong. I’m not advocating for a religious oligarchy. Actually, I’d be very much against that. I’m not even saying that we shouldn’t vote. I voted this week. Who I voted for is none of your business, and I really don’t care who you voted for. But when it comes to government and particularly voting there are things we must consider, especially for Christians.
Below are 5 things to keep in mind when it comes to faith, government, and voting.
1. You Are Entitled to Dual-Citizenship!
The longer I live on this earth the more I look forward to Heaven. But while I’m here I can always rest in the knowledge that I’m a citizen of another Kingdom, and not only that, I’m a son of the King, with equal rights as Jesus himself (Romans 8:14-17)
So if the candidate I vote for doesn’t get elected, I’m ok with that. I’m a citizen of the Kingdom of God and as such, I don’t have to worry about how the affairs of this world. All I need to do is continue to fix my eyes on the King of Kings and, come what may, I’m great!
And by the way, when you fix your eyes on anything, or anyone else, that’s called idolatry. Please, I beg you, don’t elevate any candidate to the point that you are fixing your eyes, faith, hope, or expectancy on them other than Jesus, himself. Which brings me to my next point!
2. Your Leaders Will Fail You
No matter who gets elected, this person is human, prone to the same sins, mistakes, misjudgments, and malfeasance that we are, and probably more so. Think about it, do you perform better when you are by yourself or when thousands of eyes are watching your every move? Your government officials live under a microscope and every move they make for better or worse will be noticed and shouted from the rooftops.
So when our leaders fail us, show them the grace that we want to be shown when we fail. Actually, that’s required of us. Forgiveness isn’t just for people we know who offend us, but even for our government leaders who lead poorly, or even in sinful ways. Because Jesus died for the sins of politicians, too. Hard to believe I know, but still true.
3. “Vote Bible” Is A Myth
Ok, this is one I may catch some flack for. There’s this whole “Vote Bible” thing I’ve been seeing lately and it’s kind of gotten under my skin. Here’s why.
First, I believe that it places a certain pressure to vote towards a certain party or certain issues. Kind of going back to what I said earlier, that if you’re a Christian, you’ll vote ____________. But the truth is, there are virtues and vices in both major political parties, so to say I’m voting Bible when I vote for one party would be lying.
Second, if I wanted to truly vote Bible, my ballot would look ridiculous, because basically, I’d just have to pencil in “Jesus” for each candidate. Because, as we know Jesus is the answer, and because of my dual-citizenship he has 100% of my vote. But clearly, I’m not going to do that.
That doesn’t mean I don’t take my faith into consideration when I’m voting, and it definitely means I will pray before and after I vote. But I’m going to vote for the person who, after prayer and consideration, I feel like is the best (not perfect) candidate.
Also, when I vote for a person doesn’t mean I have to agree with everything they do or stand for. And this is a trap I believe a lot of people fall into when it comes to politics. We support a candidate because they (mostly) line up with how we believe, then they do something stupid, and, rather than just saying “yeah that was stupid,” we justify it. We give up a bit of our own integrity to defend the wrong actions of our very fallible candidate, maybe even try to shift the blame to the other party, as if they were to blame for our guy’s mistake.
Ok moving on.
4. Whoever Is Elected Was Placed There By God
This one is important, and one we cannot forget. We may cast our vote, but whoever gets elected is placed there by God, for better or worse.
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.
Romans 13;1-6
Romans 13:1-6 always gets me. Like, really convicts me. Whenever I feel like complaining about my government or “The System” this verse is the kick in the pants I need.
But what about “bad” governments? That’s a good question. But the context of these verses answers that question. This wasn’t written in ‘Merica! This was written in the first-century, under Roman and some Jewish rule. So, basically the Herods and Caesars.
Now Kim is the history buff in our marriage, and could probably give more context to this but just what I know from scripture and a little history, these were far-from-perfect governments at work here. You can’t read the Bible and see any Herod and think, that’s a stand-up guy. They were greedy, sinful, corrupt, and never had the peoples’ interests in mind. And then…we have the Caesars. The Roman Emperors, who believed they were not only divinely appointed but, in a sense, gods themselves. Rome was not a Christian nation, much less a godly one. They were idolatrous, murderous, and before long would play a major role in heavy persecution of the Early Church.
So we have these two very undesirable governments and the Apostle Paul is saying, “God put them there!” Kind of a tough pill to swallow, but necessary.
Warning! Unpopular Thought Following: I think that sometimes God puts people in office that are really terrible, on purpose! Not because they’re the leader we want but perhaps the one we deserve, to punish us, to make us uncomfortable, to hopefully cause us to focus more on our True King and His coming Kingdom, rather than the things of this world. Now, this is just my opinion, kind-of based on Romans 13:3, but something to consider.
5. No Matter Who Wins Our Job Stays the Same
I think this is the most important thing to consider and if you only read one of my points I hope it’s this (although you’ve probably already read what’s above so…thanks for reading!).
Regardless of who is in office, our responsibility concerning our government and its leaders NEVER CHANGES. The Bible is clear on how we are to talk about and conduct ourselves in regard to those in authority over us, regardless of how we feel about them.
1. Pray For Our Governing Leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
This doesn’t mean we pray for the ones we like, but for all of them. Again, remember the time and place these verses were written. But what I love about these verses is it shows us that when we do, real change can happen!
I’m all for voting and am thankful for that privilege, but I’m foolish to think that I can vote our country into a godly one. But when we pray for our country and its leaders, we are entrusting it into the hands of the One who can. Have you prayed for your leaders lately? Just think the difference it would make if we took the energy we spent badmouthing our governing officials and used it to offer prayers for them. It’s a much better and more powerful use of our time, don’t you think?
2. Pay Your Taxes (Matthew 22:15-21)
Here’s a random thought I had that tickled me. Voting is our civic duty and people love doing it. I saw countless “I Voted” selfies this week. They’re proud that they fulfilled their “civic duty.” Now when April 15th comes around how many proud “I Paid Taxes” selfies will you see? If you see anything they’re probably not going to be “happygrams.”
But paying taxes was important enough for Jesus to talk about and three Gospel writers to write about, not to mention Paul in Romans Chapter Thirteen. Whether or not we like paying taxes, or even what our taxes are paying for, is irrelevant. I admit there are some things I really wish my tax dollars didn’t pay for, but that doesn’t give me an “out” for paying them.
Jesus didn’t say “Render to Caesar, except if he’s going to build statues of himself, or build a giant stadium where people will be slaughtered…you don’t have to pay taxes for those.” Everyone knew in Jesus’ day that the taxation system was corrupt and that taxes paid for all sorts of ungodliness, but Jesus didn’t differentiate.
3. Honor Them(1 Peter 2:13-17)
Over the last few months, I’ve seen these verses ignored on social media over and over again, especially in regards to the COVID-19 and mask ordinances. I’ve seen countless posts about how requiring people to wear masks in public places is a violation of our constitutional rights and even some equating these mandates to Hitler’s regime (If that’s you, shame on you…seriously you should be ashamed of yourself.)
Like I said earlier, our governments aren’t perfect, but they are placed by God and by and large, have peoples’ best interests in mind. But when we dishonor anyone who is in authority over us, whether the police officer who pulls us over, the city officials who make inconvenient mandates, or the President we didn’t vote for, we are disobeying scripture and hindering the Gospel more than you know.
Think about this. Have your words or social media posts reflected that you love God and honor the government He has placed over you? Do you need to go back and delete some of them? If so, go ahead and do that now. I’ll wait.
4. Obey Them…With Few Exceptions (1 Peter 2:13)
So is there ever a time it’s ok to be disobedient to my government? Yes, but rarely. I’d say in the case where it prevents you from sharing your faith in Christ or causes you to outrightly sin against God. (BTW wearing a mask would not fall into either category.) When Peter and John were brought before the Jewish Council in Acts 4 he was clear he would not stop sharing the Good News with others, and neither should we. But I dare say rarely will there be cases when this happens.
And as we’ve seen in the above scriptures when we pray for, honor, and obey our government we are actually helping build the Kingdom of God. If you are a Christian, the world is watching, and how you respond to our government and its mandates will directly impact how others will perceive Christ. Is Jesus a loud-mouth politically motivated complainer? Is that the kind of “Jesus” people see in you?
Something to think about.
Blessings,
Caleb
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to buy Caleb a cup of coffee!