Directly or indirectly, the policies enacted by the elected officials of local, state, and federal governments affect every aspect of our earthly lives, and the lives of our neighbors. Thus, elections provide believers significant, God-given opportunities to love their neighbors on a large scale. Who, then, is our neighbor?
- Our neighbor works hard to provide for his or her family and needs an economy that provides that opportunity.
- Our neighbor works hard to provide for his or her family and needs an economy that provides that opportunity.
- Our neighbor lives in the womb awaiting entrance into the world, fearfully and wonderfully formed by God, but at risk from the tyranny of the “doctor” wielding the scalpel or syringe filled with flesh-burning fluid to deprive him or her of their God-given right.
- Our neighbor desires freedom of religion, speech, and association, of holding to ideas without the threat from mobs that desire to destroy that freedom.
- Our neighbor desires the right to own a gun to protect his or her family from harm.
- Our neighbor needs law and order to sleep safely at home without the threat of violence.
- Our neighbor needs judges, both in the Supreme Court and all levels of government, to rightly judge cases according to law, not personal preference and ideology.
- Our neighbor has children in school that need to learn to think, free from indoctrination of those propagating ungodly ideas about life, sexuality, marriage, and the history of our country.
- Our neighbor is created in the image of God and needs to be treated as such, not as a member of a class or according to the color of their skin.
- Our neighbor lives in a foreign land, in need of missionaries sent by a country that enjoys the freedom to do so.
- Our neighbor languishes in prison and is tortured for faith in Christ, while longing to experience the religious liberty we enjoy, even as our government lobbies for their freedom world-wide.
- Our neighbor needs Christ, and pastors and friends who can freely speak the Gospel without the threat of jail for “hate speech.”
- Our neighbor loves Christ and desires to worship Him, and speak freely of His perfection and marvelous work of redemption to a lost and dying world.
Elections have big consequences. And while God is sovereign and installs and removes kings, we are nonetheless commanded to make choices that love our neighbor, and that includes elections. To abrogate that responsibility by the misapplication of God’s sovereignty neglects our God-given responsibility as much as saying to our needy neighbors, \”Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,\” while giving them nothing (James 2:16). God’s rule does not excuse dereliction of love and duty.
And lastly, should President Trump and Vice President Pence (a believer) lose the election because thousands or millions of professing believers refuse to vote or vote third party for reasons of “conscience,” I can only cry in shame at the consequences for our neighbor, for the many who will not hear the Gospel of life as a result of the loss of our republic and freedoms, and for the aiding and abetting of those who despise both the Gospel and our country. Should we have fired General Patton and countless other generals during WWII because they used “colorful” language, had big egos, and could not qualify to sit as Elders at our church? Perhaps Churchill should have been run out of town? And, will our neighbors be more inclined to hear our life-giving message of Christ when we are willing to see their country overrun by evil and destroyed because we don’t like the president’s boasting or prior sexual sins? Or, could it be that our pangs of conscience need to take better consideration of our neighbor. Yes, God will have the last word and His will shall be done. But His rule never overrides our responsibility to love Him and our neighbor.
© 2023 Craig Biehl, author of God the Reason, The Box, The Infinite Merit of Christ, and Reading Religious Affections
