Regardless of whether Obama or McCain wins tonight or whether you will be happy or shed tears after the election results, please keep a few things in mind if you are a follower of Jesus.
God’s people must let nothing keep us from the priorities that God has set before us – to proclaim the Good News about Jesus. I am encouraged that so many followers of Jesus I know really love God and love people and strive to live what they believe. Let us endeavor more to share the love of God! Let us endeavor more to be generous with all that God has made us stewards over! Let us endeavor more to help the most oppressed! Let us endeavor more to be salt and light and hope in our very dark world!
1. We have a responsibility to pray for our leaders (I Timothy 2:1-2).
“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”
The Scripture does not tell us to pray for them only if we like them. Praying for our leaders to have wisdom, discernment, justice, peace, love, and truth is commanded for us to do.
2. Jesus is still the only true and eternal hope! (Luke 4:18-19, John 14:6).
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Words of Jesus)
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
3. We must endeavor to love, live, and share the Good News about Jesus, the payment for our sins (I Timothy 2:3-7).
“This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.”
4. We have a responsibility to stand up for the oppressed. (Isaiah 1:17)
“Learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.”
5. Regardless of who our leaders are, God is still God, and our privilege is to look forward to the day when Jesus Christ will reign (Revelation 11:15).
“The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.'”
I am so looking forward to the day when there will be no more tears and no more pain. In that day, we will no longer have to wonder whether our leaders know what they are doing, or if they have good or bad intentions, or if they are wise enough for the job. Our King Jesus will reign and all will be as it should be – finally! What a sweet and blessed hope we have in Jesus!
Love 