Today is Election Day in the United States. The 2020 election is of great importance for the future of the United States, including the future of fundamental rights like religious liberty and the rule of law, but regardless of the outcome, God is sovereign. And He will remain sovereign forever.
The truth is that elections matter. They matter because they have such dramatic affect upon our everyday lives and the lives of those who are to come after us–our children and grandchildren. The politicians we elect today will make laws and decisions that will determine much about our immediate future and, perhaps more importantly, about the future of the nation. This particular election matters because the party platforms and the candidates espousing them could not be further apart in their visions for what America should be and become.
I believe this election matters and that is our responsibility to use our vote to achieve the highest level of human flourishing possible. I believe we should use our vote to promote stability and the rule of law. I believe we should use our vote to protect innocent life, to restrain evil, and to promote what no one can argue is good. I believe we should vote to preserve an experiment in ordered liberty that has its foundations in Biblical concepts, even if those Biblical concepts have long been forgotten. I hope that today’s election will result in the re-election of Donald Trump as President and the control of both the Senate and the House being entrusted to the Republicans. I hope that the American people send a resounding answer of “No!” to socialism and the remaking of our society in the image of secularism. I hope these things for the sake of the Gospel. I hope these things not because I believe we can usher in utopia through elections, but because I believe we can order even a fallen world in such a way that people might have the best opportunity to reach out and maybe find God (see Acts 17).
If what I hope occurs does not occur, I will be disappointed and discouraged. I will realize just how far our nation has drifted toward destructive policies that lead to the twilight of freedom. But I will not lose hope. I will not be angry. I will not forget that regardless of what happens in this world, good or bad, God is still in control, still sovereign, still at work, still sitting on the throne of the cosmos and that Jesus is coming again. I will remember that a lack of freedom is the natural state of the world and that the Gospel flourished under a totalitarian regime in its infancy. I will remember that even in Communist China, the Gospel is spreading like wildfire, without the protections of the First Amendment. I will remember that there is work to be done and that while elections matter, they are not the ultimate answer to any issue.
As Christians, we are caught between two worlds. We know this world is not our home and we know that nothing short of the Second Coming of Christ will usher in the peace and prosperity we hope for. We know that our gaze must be fixed on things above, because that is where our hope is found. We know that our first priority is the the Kingdom of God and not the kingdoms of this world. But we also know that we have a responsibility to the world to which we have been called to take the Gospel. We know that we have a mandate from God to bring order to chaos, to protect human life, to ensure that justice rolls down like a river, and that human flourishing happen to the extent we are able to facilitate it. We have a responsibility to work in this world–to take the Gospel to everyone who needs it–while keeping our eyes on the prize, which is not finding our ultimate reward on this earth, but rather in Heaven.
So, what to do? Pray for the results of this election. Pray that Americans of all backgrounds, all faiths, all colors, all persuasions, will vote to restrain evil and promote the good, good things like the rule of law, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom to protect innocent life. Pray that God will give this nation another opportunity to be a light in the world, to bring peace and prosperity to those who have never experienced such luxuries. And vote, of course, because you have a responsibility to God for the kind of government you participate in establishing. But don’t put your hope in the outcome of this, or any, election. Don’t let your witness for Christ and His Gospel be tarnished by your words, actions or attitudes, regardless of the outcome. Let your light so shine before men–including today–that they see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven.
Friends, God is sovereign. He has a plan. He knows what He is doing. He has been ruling and reigning over a rebellious world for a long time and He is not slow to bring about HIs promises. There is coming a great day when He will send Jesus to us, yet again, to put an end to evil and reestablish, fully, the Kingdom of God on this earth. Until then, let us be about the work of the Kingdom: sharing the Gospel with the lost, feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, ministering to the orphan and widow. Let us vote because we are responsible and desire to see the most people have the opportunity to come to Christ and live in freedom, but let us remember that God is still sovereign and will be forever, regardless of who wins and loses on this Election Day.