I don’t know about you, but I’m so glad the election is finally over. Regrettably, my candidate didn’t win. However, that is not really a big shock. I was going third party this year, so my candidate didn’t have a chance of winning to begin with.
I’m glad because maybe now we can get back to Christianity as usual. What I mean is for three out of four years, Christians recognize they shouldn’t jump on the bandwagon with the evangelicals. In those three years, we know that what is all important is Christ’s one true gospel that can save us (cf. Galatians 1:6-9). In those three years, we preach against social gospel, entertainment gospel, recreational gospel, health and wealth gospel, etc. In those three years, we understand that what is important is getting the message of Jesus out to people so they can be saved. In those three years, we just present the gospel and try to get people to believe in and follow Jesus.
However, every fourth year all that seems to change. In that fourth year, many Christians go into a political mania and begin to hold hands with the evangelicals acting like the most important thing we can do is get a certain candidate elected. In that fourth year, one might think the reason Jesus died was to make sure the USA had a godly, Christian government. In that fourth year, Christians start passing around e-mails and petitions about candidates and their spiritual views. In that fourth year, Christians throw out the Biblical teaching on malice and slander (cf. Ephesians 4:31) and run amok running down the candidate they don’t like.
But now it is all over. Maybe we can get back to Christianity as usual. Maybe we can get back to telling people about Jesus instead of our candidate. Maybe we can actually take some of the energy with which we support our political candidate and use it to spread the gospel. Maybe we can take some of that passion we had that caused us to vote on some issue and use it to get out and actually help people live godly lives.
If you voted, I’m sure you voted your conscience. I’m sure your motivation was godly and pure. I’m sure you did what you thought was right. However, let me assure you your vote was not really some major service to God. God has never asked for our vote. Now that we have done the easy work of voting, let’s do some of the hard work and get Jesus into the hearts and minds of our neighbors and friends.
Please, remember this. God has never asked us to spread His will politically. However, He has asked us to spread His will. Now that we have voted, let’s make sure we are really doing what serves God.