Out on a Limb

"When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan" (Proverbs 29:2).

Taking a break from the normal tenor of my blog, I am going to step out on a limb. Let me begin first by telling you what limb that is and why I'm stepping out there.

We are only days away from another election in our country, where we will elect not only a new president, but other governing authorities as well. While I am not writing here to endorse any political candidate, I am writing to endorse the biblical necessity of exercising our responsibility to vote and the necessity to vote in accordance with the truth, values and principles of Scripture.

I do so not because I like picking a fight. I do not do so because I am looking to offend or make anyone angry. The purpose here is not to tell you how to vote because you have been unable to figure it out. Better still, I do not write this because I think I am smarter or wiser than anyone reading this. Here's why: My heart has grown heavy with the individuals claiming to be followers of Jesus Christ, who have expressed their reasons for voting, and yet most often there is no credence given to what the word of God says. As a matter of fact, I recently had an individual, a minister, who stated plainly to me that he understood what God's word said about a particular issue, but was rather choosing to vote based on the health care and economic ideology of his chosen political candidate.

You won't hear (or rather read) my endorsement of Barack Obama or John McCain. I am not writing to try to trash one or build up another. If I were completely honest about it, I would really like to vote for option "C". Just this week an individual asked me if I were voting for Obama or McCain. I said to him, "I'd like to vote for option C." He said, "I didn't think there was one." "You are exactly right," I said.

Neither candidate in this year's presidential election represents me on all the values that I hold significant and dear. I don't think either completely rest upon the biblical framework when it comes to some keys issues. And for heaven's sake, it is about time Christians understand that God is not a Republican or Democrat. For that matter, I don't know WWJV (Who Would Jesus Vote). What I do know is that if Scripture is the unveiling of God, His character, His story and His will to humankind, and if it is the absolute truth and standard by which we are to live (and I believe it is all these things), then there are some clear things I must be thinking about now, when I am walking in to cast my vote and when I cast that vote.

Solomon, with wisdom filling him so full it oozed out all around him, wrote "When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan." No leader is perfect. No senator, representative, governor or president. But there is a difference in being imperfect and being intentionally sinful and wicked. When Moses was growing weary in leading the people and hearing every complaint, his wise father-in-law Jethro gave him good, sound advice. He told Moses to choose, "men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain" to oversee and lead over smaller groups.

I want to vote my values. I want to vote not based on economic gain, health care, national security, pork spending or any of those items. Those are important. Those items do matter. But for me, they are insignificant when it comes to solid, biblical teachings that relate to morality, life, sacred institutions such as marriage and so forth. Maybe one plan for health care is better than another. But both pale in comparison to a decision to change God's definition of marriage or whether an unborn child with no voice will be killed.

I realized both of these are sensitive and polarizing issues. Yet I cannot waiver on them though the waves of culture seem to grow increasingly larger, when the word of God stands eternally secure. If I boil it all down when it comes to this election year, it somewhat goes like this.

I have the right as an American to vote. As a Christian, I have a responsibility to vote to insure that leaders who fear God and continue to lead the United States of America to hold to the moral principles of God's word are placed in office. Now a parent of three, I have three reasons to vote. I want my children and my grandchildren to inherit a country where Truth and morality did not fall to the wayside because my vote was based on my bank account and not on Scripture. My vote should be a vote of faith--believing the vote I cast is the one by which God would be most pleased and glorified. To vote based on anything else, means I voted for me. To cast a vote that is not rooted in faith in Jesus Christ, is to dishonor God (Romans 14:23).

He may or may not be right, but Richard Land, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, wrote, "Ultimately, our loyalty belongs not to any political party or candidate but to God Almighty. And when the time comes, I believe God may ask each of us about how we voted and why."

I pray as we enter these final days that you will do your homework and vote your values. And on November 5, regardless of the outcome of the election, I would encourage you to "Pray...for kings and all others who are in authority, so that we can live in peace and quietness, in godliness and dignity" (1 Timothy 2:2).