November 5, 2024
Well here we are again, four years later, and we have the biggest vote of the year! It is the first time in a long time, if ever, I have felt such peace about this election. Where does this peace come from?Ultimately, it comes from the Lord.
Next, I don’t have the popular social media platforms where it sounds like many people seemingly love to attack the other side. Finally, I don’t watch the news. I listen to Faith Radio’s top of the hour news, and that is good enough for me to stay in the know but it seems over the years that the media, overall, wants to make people buy into their warped angle. Pick your poison — FoxNews or CNN — the top two that love to spew hate and mockery to the other side.
So last week I was reading in Daniel and I really believe we, as Christians, could apply this to our lives when we disagree with people. First of all, shouldn’t we be thankful we have the freedom to vote for who we want to? I am not disgusted with someone putting a sign in their yard that doesn’t line up with my values. I do believe that everyone deep down believes they are making the right choice or else they wouldn’t stand for it so visibly. I see this as an opportunity to share why I believe what I believe. I am thankful I can have friends on both sides and that we can have civil debate and still love each other no matter what. Sometimes people are still blinded, especially if they are not believers; we should be praying, not attacking.
When you attack the other side, do you think someone will listen to anything you have to say? Probably not. You are just encouraging the hate. Can you imagine how different our world would be if we chose to spend our time in prayer rather than spend so much time talking negatively to and about the “other side”?
First Chronicles 7:14 says “and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their evil ways, then I will listen from heaven, I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.” Overall, Christians are not doing this. Why are we not obeying His Word?? Do we not want our land to be healed?!?!
When starting to read in Daniel chapter one last week, his response is so much against the flow, and we can learn a lot from him. I believe he’s only a teenager and he and his friends, along with many others, were kidnapped and taken to Babylon to work. They were to eat certain foods to make them stronger. Daniel knew he could not eat their food because, with his religious practices, he could not “defile” his body by consuming what he wasn’t supposed to. He humbly asked if he could eat his own food to stay in line with his religion.
The eunuch in charge of him feared the king and thought if he allowed Daniel and his friends to do this that his life could actually be in danger to go against what his master wanted done. Daniel listened to his response respectfully and then asked if they could test what he knew they needed to eat (only vegetables and water versus meat and wine) for ten days. He said that at the end of the trial, then the eunuch can decide what to do. And come to find out, Daniel and his friends were the strongest so it gave all those there an opportunity to see God at work.
Can you imagine what the outcome would’ve been had Daniel decided to be defensive and mouthy? I guarantee you that the eunuch wouldn’t have given him the chance. Daniel didn’t put down what the king believed but simply shared his personal beliefs in hopes the eunuch would fully listen and give him a chance. I am guessing that before this, Daniel was respectful to all around and this was observed by the eunuch so he seemed to care what he had to say and ask for.
God’s Word tells us in Proverbs 15:1 that “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” If we would all apply this verse to anything we disagree with, how differently would our world be? How would our most intimate relationships be? I have seen such prideful, hateful words regarding election, on both sides, but I am most saddened with those who call themselves Christians.
I must say, I am so tired of hearing every time an election rolls around, people saying and believing the lie, “if we don’t pick so and so, we will become this or that as a nation”. Do you realize you are using “scare tactics”? Are we any better than the media when we do this? Is this what God would really have us to do? Here’s the thing, as Christians, we have the responsibility to vote. We can even share why we are voting the way we are voting but cannot we do that with grace? As Christians, we should vote with a Biblical Worldview for sure. Why? Because we are to walk out and stand for the Word of the Lord, not adding to or taking away from it.
I am honestly so tired of the slogans, “Make America Great Again” and “If We Stand Together, We Will Rise Together”. Now I am not saying slogans are wrong because they can be good to make people think with a simple phrase but do either of these, from both sides of the aisle, point to God and His righteousness? Nope, not at all. These slogans point to two leaders whose supporters, as a whole, seem to think that they are their Savior and might I say that both leaders seem to believe that they are your Savior? “if you don’t vote for me, our world is going to be such and such”, blah, blah, blah. The leaders need to get off their high horses. Let me tell you, no leader is going to be so great to make everything perfect. That won’t happen till Jesus comes again and once you put them on that pedestal, just like with any leader or person, I promise you they will eventually disappoint you. Why? Because they are human! We are all human yet we have seen people’s backgrounds be dug up to try to defile their character. I am so thankful that my past is not on the big screen for all to judge. Aren’t you?
The really neat thing about being a Christian is that our alliance is to the Kingdom of God because our citizenship, first and foremost, is eternally in heaven. Our privilege to vote is because we are citizens of the United States of America. If we have dual citizenship, should we not represent our King of Kings appropriately? As an Ambassador for our true Lord and Savior, we must represent Him with boldness yet gentleness.
If you call yourself a Christian, please, for the sake of Jesus’ Name, act like it. BE KIND and STOP BEING A BEHIND! People should be able to tell if you are a Christian or not in your words and actions. Let’s love as God has asked us to. Let’s live out the Word of our Lord!
I look back many years ago, after having my firstborn, and remember realizing who won the election, and I actually cried. I look back and realize how sinful I was not putting my trust in the Lord Who is Sovereign overall but instead put my trust in a candidate. I believed the lies that our country was in serious trouble. Might I remind us that we are all in serious trouble because we have a sin problem and the only antidote is Salvation in Jesus. Three decades later, I see that things are so much worse with the media using scare tactics. Let us not fall into that trap of deceit.
I am at peace with whomever wins this election. Fair or unfair, God is still on the Throne and is Sovereign, knowing already who will win. In the end, He makes ALL things right. And remember this, His Word shows that HE ultimately places whom He wants in leadership. Do you really trust that His Word is Truth? Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the Hand of Yahweh;
He turns it wherever He pleases.”
We shouldn’t focus on the temporary as it takes our focus off the eternal. My allegiance lies with the Kingdom of God, and I must ask myself the question, “What am I doing to advance HIS Kingdom?”
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