Christian discernment at election time

"I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” 1 Timothy 2:1-2

On my heart this morning is a strong feeling that I have to say something in witness to God our Creator during this time of unrest and Presidential election. It has been a long time since I have felt compelled to write. There are many times I want to write something about my faith, or about something I am reading in my Bible studies.... but I have learned over the years that my writing on topics of faith and God is only possible when God Himself compels me. This is a good thing, because I still do not feel worthy or capable of writing truthfully or in a way that honors our Lord. I worry often about writing false statements about God, faith, and the Bible and therefore misleading others, which would be worse then almost anything in my mind.

But today, during my morning prayer and devotional reading, I felt such a strong compulsion to share what I was writing in my journal that here I am, putting it out there publicly forever. My prayer is that I am speaking truth and not lies.... that the Spirit is moving my fingers and my words and not Satan. I consider Philippians 4:8 to be one of my major life verses and never want to do something that contradicts these words in my writing here:

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things."

There is a great responsibility put upon believers in our Lord Jesus Christ to follow and defend God's commands. While we may not technically be under the law due to Jesus' fulfillment of it, being under Grace does not absolve us of the responsibility to honor and obey the natural order God has put in place in the world.

For the past few years I have been thinking a lot about what that natural order is. There are so many ways we can fall into the weeds and wind up resting on a legalistic view of faith and religion if we are not careful. That said, loving one another, as the Bible commands, does not mean accepting unacceptable, sinful, or blasphemous behavior that derives its value from Satan. The God of Heaven may have provided us with a tremendous demonstration of His love for us by sending Jesus as propitiation for our sins, but He did not change or abolish the natural order for human behavior which was created when He created the world.

While I do not pretend to be a scholar on these things, I do think A LOT about this topic and read a fair amount. As I said earlier, it is so hard for me to put these thoughts out there because I worry about being incorrect. Discussions with my husband on matter's of faith and God definitely serve to keep me humble in this area, and remind me of my frailty when it comes to faithful living and thinking. I worry quite a bit about being a tool for Satan, which I am at great risk of if I am not careful. That said.... here were my thoughts on this topic this morning.

The 3 main values I believe I must focus on FIRST as I consider voting in November are:

• The sanctity of Life
• The sanctity of Marriage
• Freedom of Worship and Religion

There are MANY other considerations, of course.... the government has tremendous impact on all aspects of our lives. BUT, to me as a Christian, these values must be and are primary. There is no nuance to them. They are sacrosanct and not up for debate. Regardless of a candidate's platform on healthcare, taxes, defense spending, or a myriad of other things that are IMPORTANT.... the 3 bullets above are ABSOLUTE to a Christian and must be considered before anything else. While God commands us to render to Caesar what is  Caesar's.... He also commands us to give to God what is God's. To a Christian God comes before ALL ELSE... therefore we must consider what is God's before we consider what is man's. Government and all that goes with it is man's.... therefore I must consider God's areas first, and then move on to man's.

Our country is in such turmoil right now.... the most I have ever seen in my nearly 49 years on earth. I believe we are truly on the brink of destruction not unlike Sodom, Gomorrah, Babylon, the Roman empire. It is more important than ever that we take a strong stand for the foundation of God's creation. The more we stray from God and His foundational principles for us, the worse it will be for Believers and non-believers alike until Jesus returns. 

I did not vote for Trump or Hillary in 2016. Actually, at that time I was only a few years into my journey as a Christian. I was still such a baby in my faith but had A LOT to say about the intersection of my faith and God's word as I knew it then and what I was seeing happening with the Presidential candidates. You can look back at my blog posts from that time, there were many. Some may have been a bit misinformed, but I choose to leave them there because it is reflection of where was I was at that time. As humans we continue to grow and learn, and as the popular Maya Angelou quote goes: "I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better."

Back to why I did not vote for either of them (although I did vote). I did not vote for them because I did not believe they would protect the basic precepts of humanity under God. Hillary pretty much said so and still does today (as do most Democratic candidates, unfortunately). Trump may have said some "Christian" things, but I did not vote for him because I did not believe him due to his former record and behavior as it relates to being a Believer. 

Now, in 2020, I am faced again with an election that requires me to look deeply at the things I believe and that are paramount to Christianity and judge the candidates presented against these things.

We are just under 2 months out from the election, and I don't know yet what I will do. My gut is telling me not to be swayed by the loud voices all around me, but to spend time in deep prayer and ask for the will of God to be revealed. Ultimately, His will WILL be done.... God is sovereign and nothing happens that doesn't work for His ultimate glory. As Christians like to say, we know how it ends. Having said that.... we don't know WHEN it will end, or when our own personal journey will be finished on this earth. In the meantime, we must be faithful and not operate out of fear or pressure from others who may not share our deeply held beliefs (and there are many that claim to but do not, remember that).

What I do know is that in my faithfulness there are some things I cannot vote for.

I cannot:

• vote for someone who is mentally incompetent
• vote for someone who will not recognize and support the sanctity of human life, including unborn babies, the ill or infirm, and vulnerable adults 
• vote for someone who doesn't recognize the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman or that works to undermine it
• vote for someone who sees government as higher or more important than church and will use power to control the church and Christian behavior

I continue to think and pray about this, and, if you are a Christian, I hope you will, too. These are not easy times, and trying to marry the values of this world with the values of the Kingdom is a fruitless endeavor fraught with peril. In order to be wise, we must get VERY CLEAR on what our Kingdom priorities are first. As a Christian this is the only way to roll.

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:2