The election is coming! The election is coming! To hear some folks, the outcome of the upcoming election will determine whether the human race…and planet earth itself…will survive.
Don't get me wrong. I'm concerned about the election, too. I look forward to fulfilling my patriotic responsibility and casting a vote. I'm researching the candidates, studying the issues. But my concern about this election is much bigger than which candidate wins the White House, or which party controls congress.
My concern is that too many Christians view this election just like non-Christians: we put way too much hope in it.
To the extent that a government passes just laws and upholds biblical principles, its representatives are to be highly esteemed. So it DOES matter who's in office. But not in an ultimate sense.
Because there is no “correct” party. No party that is not filled with crooked and corrupt characters who look good, smell good, sell good….but who are morally and spiritually bankrupt…even if they do have noble intentions. Isaiah 64:6 “But we are all like an unclean rag.”
I've listened as our current President promised us hope and change…and seen America slide further down our moral mud slide.
And I've also observed what happens when Republicans control the White House and Congress: We continue down our moral mud slide.
So there IS no salvation for America in either party. Sin resides in both.
The evidence notwithstanding, too many of us are too quick to put too much hope in government and political parties. As Joe Stowell reminds us in his preaching, “We are a fallen race in a fallen place.”
America's ticket back to prosperity will not be found on any ballot other than than the votes you and I will cast with our daily lives in favor—or in disobedience against—God's written Word.
As for me, I want to join the short list of folks listed in Hebrews 11 longing for a better country—a heavenly one.
So until then, I intend to be a good citizen. I'll pray and vote and do my best to image a loving God reaching out to a fallen world. But I will NOT place my highest hopes on this—or any election.