Voting is one of the greatest rights and privileges we have as citizens of the United States. Many, due to detachment or apathy, see no need to register to vote or make the relatively small effort to trek to the polling place during election season. As believers, we need to understand that voting is not just a right or privilege, it is a sacred responsibility and duty. Too much blood of our fighting men and women has been shed for the rights we enjoy in this land. Our people have been too blessed by God not to honor the unique place we have in the world as Americans by taking the time to seek God’s face and cast our vote in local, state, and nationwide contests.
In reality, for believers, voting is part of our ministry which means we are to let God’s love, will, and purpose flow through us in the context of voting. Ministry is service rendered in the name of the Lord and the Lordship of Jesus and our responsibility to minister is not suspended on election day. Our mandate as believers is to see voting as part of our ministry and we are therefore to minister our vote as unto the Lord following His direction and leadership.
This means grandpa’s political party is not the deciding factor in your vote. This means that the personal likeability of the candidate is not the deciding factor in your vote. This means that long standing alliances. affiliations, and affinities are not the deciding factors in your vote. As a child of God with access and understanding to the principles of the Word of God, we have a responsibility to minister our vote in a manner consistent with the values and standards of our God as revealed in that Word.
As we approach election day, it is important to remember that we are primarily and ultimately citizens and ambassadors of the Kingdom of God with a higher standard and different agenda than the world around us. We are, by the nature of our profession of faith, bound to allow the values of the Scripture to guide us in everything we do, including who we vote for at any level of government. As the Lord’s ambassador, your vote is even more important than, for example, the declaration of the will of the U.S. government at a vote of the UN security council. We all understand that the ambassador to the UN does not make up his or her mind how to vote, but they carry with them the will and directives of the administration that appointed and sent them to the UN in the first place.
As God’s representatives ministering our vote on His behalf we should keep in mind (1) the sanctity of human life, (2) the sanctity of human marriage as between one man and one woman, and (3) the integrity of Israel as a sovereign state. Any public servant that will not protect the unborn, will not openly support God’s standard for human marriage and sexuality, or will not boldly declare and back up with action our national support for Israel does not deserve the vote of a child of the Kingdom of God. Christians are allowed obviously to care about and express their opinions on the more carnal elements of an election cycle like how this affects us financially or how green our jobs are, but we must be careful to honor God’s heart and values when representing Him to the world through the election process and the casting of our vote.
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