Voting and the Sit-it-Outers

If you believe the statistics, some US Christians will sit on their hands instead of voting in the upcoming elections.  I’ve known a few of these types in my life, their motto is, “Muh principles!” Not wanting to get their hands dirty by participating in such a worldly and political process as voting or soiling their self-perceived perfection with choosing among imperfect candidates who are sinners, they view themselves as too pure (they’re not), too holy (they’re not), too honorable (they’re not), and far too Christian to vote (no comment).

Then they complain as the spiritual and world problems they claimed to care about
get worse and evil runs amok. 

“Where was God?” they ask. 
He might reply, “Where were YOU when I gave YOU a choice of direction to go
and YOU did NOTHING?”

Should faithful Christians vote? 
Perhaps the better question is, “Do you believe God is sovereign, or not?”

“But I don’t like the choices,” you might say.  Sorry.  These are the choices God gave you…if you believe He is sovereign.  Jesus is not on the ballot and frankly, couldn’t win a primary if the world gets a vote.  Remember, they voted to crucify Him the last time.  Your choices will only be sinners because that’s all that’s left.

What does it say about your faith if you don’t accept that He laid these choices before you because you don’t like the process He used?  The Bible has an answer to that and is replete with examples of choices where you might wish for a few other alternatives.  Let’s look at a few:

Salvation in Christ alone. You might wonder, “Can’t there be another way for my loved one who doesn’t like Jesus?” Nope. Not if our God is real, His Word is true, and He is sovereign.  That choice is literally life or death.  Don’t sit it out.   Choose Jesus.

Promised Land.  God says to the Israelites, “I’m giving this land to you.” (Numbers 13-14) The spies–1 leader (ahem, LEADER) from each tribe—they go into the Promised Land for 40 days of reconnaissance (ewww….how worldly!)  Ten spies returned and said (paraphrased), Nah, I think I’ll pass. In a frightened whimpering voice, they say, “There’s big giants in there and I don’t want to die. Let’s go back to Egypt.”  In effect, their hearts said, “Yeah, God, well I don’t believe You are sovereign, capable, powerful, or wise.  I don’t like that choice. I think I’ll just sit this out.”  God says (paraphrased), Fine, sit it out. In the desert…for forty years…until you die. As your children reap what you sowed for their future.

Choose the direction of faith or the direction of judgment.
That’s what’s really on the ballot in any election.
And it’s nothing new.

Choose Life.  God says, it’s not always candidates I give you for choosing because under the surface of any candidate, there is a core direction you choose to travel. 

Deuteronomy 30:19 “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

What would it say if you decided to sit this one out?  Life? Death? I am too pure.  Choosing is just too worldly. I’ll just do nothing. You chose nothing and God has something to say about doing nothing.

Parable of the Talents/Minas. (In Matthew 25 it’s talents/gold and appears just before the sheep-and-goats judgment passage. In Luke, it occurs just before the Triumphal Entry. And don’t fool yourself. These are not coincidences).

Luke 19:12 Jesus said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. 13 So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’  14 “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’  15 He was made king, however, and returned home.”   

Then you know the story. Each person had a choice regarding action.  Blessing followed those who worked with the system given to them.  Some of the people put their allotted talents to work and earned a return on investment and were blessed, but one guy decided to sit this one out.  It didn’t go well for him because it spoke to what he believed about his master, “a hard man”.  Make no mistake, sitting it out reveals what you think of God.

Give to Caesar and Give to God. It’s in all 3 synoptic gospels (Matthew 22, Mark 12, and Luke 2) and about something as political as paying taxes (ewww… so worldly!). People overlook that. I get it, some people think that giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s to them means unchristian people are the only ones who should vote—but they shouldn’t because they are too pure and the political process, too corrupt. 

Do you see how that notion results in placing Christian cultural values under the authority of the world and its cultural values?  By their choice not to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, they are also not giving to God what is God’s.  They are not watching their life OR their doctrine closely and the nations pay the price when God’s values are subsumed under the world’s.

In case you can’t tell, I believe that people who sit it out are fooling only themselves and it speaks to the heart of their faith (or lack of faith) in God and His ability to use processes to both bless and judge us. God uses processes to judge us, so we’ll return to Him.  If we go into another round of judgment, the unbelievers and sit-it-outers will own it and hopefully wake up to return to God.  Just like the kids in the desert, faithful Christians will also suffer in punishment for the sake of those who are unfaithful.

Now, for those who decide they can no longer sit it out, Christians first and foremost know their doctrine given by the God they love, they know the WAY.  Christians PRAY.  Then Christians OBEY by putting their choice to work. 

And finally, Christians trust no matter the outcome that our sovereign God is working His will and is not thwarted by some political process.  (Wow, I’m sorry people, I really wanted My will to prevail, but phooey! Things were just too political, you know.  You see, there was this electoral college, and I just couldn’t get it done.  Sorry people, I tried really hard.  SERIOUSLY? That does not happen with a sovereign God.)  We may get more judgment for where we’ve chosen as a nation in this election, but God’s will prevails, nonetheless.

One final thing about politics.  Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection were political. His return will be highly political.  King of Kings.  Lord of Lords.  The government (ahem) will be upon His shoulders (Isaiah 9:6-7).  You can ignore politics, but it won’t ignore you and says more about your faith in God than you may realize.  Faith without deeds is dead. That’s sitting it out.

“Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.  19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that– and shudder… 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone….faith without deeds is dead.” (James 2:18-26)

Way, Pray, Obey.  It’s not that hard.