This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight. I pray this so that you will be able to decide what really matters and so you will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. –Philippians 1:9-10 (CEB)
I want to worship God with all that I am. Does that “all that I am” include how I vote? And, how do I “worship” with my vote in an election like this one?
Today I felt like I came upon the answer, here in Philippians 1: “that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight.” If we are going to bring Jesus’ love to the world, how can we ignore the power we have to do that through our votes? But, to bring His love, we first have to fill ourselves with knowledge and insight.
But how can I find that knowledge and insight, when everyone seems to be lying through their teeth?
First, I have to remind myself that there are God-lovers on all sides. It’s easy to believe that the other side comes from the devil. I find myself doing that all the time. But I have friends and family on all sides. There must be something good, something worth listening to, to have attracted them.
How do I, then, find those things worth listening to?
I have to seek them. To look for not just what is easy to see, but what God wants me to see. That means looking prayerfully at all sources of information, even those that make me feel uncomfortable because they don’t agree with me. I have to recognize that what candidates and their supporters say–especially about the opposing candidate–can’t always be trusted. Spin-doctoring is everywhere. I need to use what I hear as a springboard for my own research, to sources that are less likely to be biased, such as non-partisan institutions. (I link to some sites like this at the end of this post.)
The internet has made fact-checking easier, but it’s still hard work. Yet, if my vote is an offering to God, it should be the best offering I can give. I need to pray for God to teach me, and give me the stamina to see it through, and the courage to learn and let my mind change if the evidence says it should.
“Most important, live together in a manner worthy of Christ’s gospel….” –Philippians 1:27 (CEB)
Secondly, to make my vote a form of worship I have to make my vote match God’s desires. Not what will make me comfortable. Not what the people around me think. I have to put myself in God’s place, try to see with His eyes, and care about the world and all of its people the way He does. Even the people I don’t like, can’t understand, or who are against me.
Lastly, I have to trust. Trust that He will open my eyes. Trust that, even if He calls me in a direction that seems certain to ruin everything, He will take care of me.
The world groans in its bondage to Satan. Please join me in whole-heartedly searching for God’s answer, God’s vote, for this election. I believe that we can use these little bits of power to ease the world out of its chains and a little closer to God’s love. The God who made every single inhabitant of this world, and loves each one as His own child. The God who loves even the bloodthirsty terrorist, even the unwanted child, and yes, even the arrogant politician.
“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” –Philippians 2:1-4 (NIV)
A few useful places to start your research: