With the election only days away, Christians seem to be divided on what they should want and on whom they should vote. John Piper began the current melee when he dropped his most recent article explaining his position on this election. Then Mohler, Grudem, et. al. [1] Each with their own take. They’re not alone. Some overt, some not as dramatic, but many telling each other what the other person should be doing regarding this election.
I enter my voice in this fracas with the headline above, “What Every Christian Should Want in This Election.”
As any good scholar would note, I need to be careful that I do not commit the sin of Eliju as he listened to everyone else and then gave “his authoritative position” in the Book of Job. Yet, he was as wrong as the others. So I enter in with caution.
Five Should-Be Desires of Every Christian This Election
Using Romans 13:1-10 as my guide, I suggest the following five desires should be universal to every Christian over the days ahead.
Every Christian should want and pray for God’s will.
As we hope and pray for this election, every Christian should pray for God’s will to be done. Just as Jesus prayed in the Garden and asked, we also should life our voices in unison and ask for God’s will and not our own. Notice what Paul writes:
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. (Rom 13:1)
The authorities that exist are appointed by God (cf., Dan 4:17; Ps 75:6-7; Prov 8:15). Whether Joe Biden gets elected or Donald Trump gets reelected, the people’s choice will demonstrate God’s sovereign choice. In a similar way to Jesus, we pray, “Let your will be done.”
What’s the challenge for all of us who are Christians then?
The challenge for us is to accept God’s will. We vote then accept God’s will. As Jesus, I do not demand my will (Biden/Trump) but Your will (God’s sovereign choice as observed through His providential control over the election process and all of 2020).
Every Christian should want to protect our testimony, especially love and unity.
We do not all vote the same nor do we all live in the same places and with the same situations. Each of us have an opinion on who should be president over the next four years. Your opinion and mine are just that – opinions. We might even call them strong desires. This is true as well for all those who have written and all those who have quoted them or tweeted them.
Some have tweeted, posted, and written with a sense of smugness it seems. Whenever you begin to tell others how to vote with words like never or this is what the Bible demands, then it begins to come across with a sense of haughtiness and sounds a bit self-righteous. All of these things produce disunity and strife.
Instead, we should all want to protect our corporate testimony and should strongly desire love and unity. Jesus makes this clear in His final words and prayer on earth in John 13-17. As Paul writes here:
8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. (Rom 13:8)
10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Rom 13:10)
We should speak in concert together with a corporate voice where love for each other, our neighbors, and the greater testimony of Christ is of greater value to us than our individual choice for president.
Every Christian should desire God to protect the Good to make the Gospel prosper.
As a whole, we should want and pray that God would providentially elect those on every level of government that would help make living for Him the easiest and make the Gospel proclamation the loudest.
God provides government to protect those who do good and punish those who do evil. Notice what Paul says:
3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. (Rom 13:3-5)
Paul teaches that the God-ordained role of government is to praise the good or reward the good. As Christians then, we should strongly desire and pray that God would in fact elect those that would fulfill this role best. In other words, pray that God would elect those who would make it as easy as possible to function as Christians to enable our Gospel-work to prosper.
Every Christian should desire to exercise his or her own responsibility and pray for others to do the same.
No follower of Christ should be on the sideline. Each of us should go exercise our right to vote. Why? Because we can and it is part of our stewardship of what God has provided us. Again, notice what Paul writes:
Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. (Rom 13:7)
We are participants in the process. We each have a stewardship of opportunity. Taxes and customs both fall under the individual responsibility of each person as members of a particular society under the influence of a particular government. For Paul then, it was Rome. For us today, it is in the United States of America where we pay taxes and get a voice in elections.
As those who providentially get to live in one of the greatest nations in human history, it is our privilege and solemn right to participate in the selection and direction of this county. Anytime God provides us with grace in the midst of circumstances, He also expects us to be a good steward of the same.
Every Christian should desire and pray that we would love our neighbor well during this time.
As we talk, prepare to vote, and eventually vote, every Christian should desire to model what it means to love our neighbors well. As Paul writes:
8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Rom 13:8-10)
Did you notice what Paul wrote? All the commandments are summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does not harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
This is important. Whatever you desire in this election, no matter who you desire to win, regardless of what you think of the other candidates on your ballot, and regardless of how others communicate on social media, you are responsible for you. God expects each of us to live in fulfillment of the command to love our neighbor as ourselves where love does no harm but fulfills the law.
For simplicity sake…
Christian friend, let me give you five functional takeaways from these five desires that should rule every Christian during this election season.
- The name/testimony of Christ is more important than whoever your candidate of choice is – period. You should be more Christian than you are democrat or republican. Your concern for the name of Christ as an ambassador should beyond measure weigh heaviest on your heart rather than a partisan goal.
- See your political enemy as your friend. No doubt you have a desire – as do others. Even if those others seek to virtue shame their choice on you, we must each overlook this in the name of Christ and see the other Christian as brother/sister, fellow member of the body, and friend – not enemy or foe.
- Measure everything you say, write, post, tweet, and anything else you do in light of being an ambassador of Christ. You first are a Christian and citizen of Heaven, not a Democrat or Republican and a citizen of the United States.
- And, by all means, go out and vote the ballot of your choice that you best believe brings honor and glory to God. You get an individual voice in each selection on your ballot, go make those choices.
- After you do your part, then strive to trust God, worship Him and Him alone, and seek to serve our neighbors well regardless of who wins.
For each of us, may God receive the glory!
Image Credit Elijah Nouvelage
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