For years I did not exercise my freedom to vote in presidential elections. I was confused and overwhelmed about making such an important choice; if I vote based on a particular issue or issues, I may be voting in a bunch of other issues with which I do not agree. As a follower of Jesus I realize that no candidate can uphold the ethics and morals that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. So instead of voting, I determined that no matter which candidate was elected as president of the United States, I would choose to pray for the leaders, the country, and continue to follow Jesus doing what He taught and requires of His children:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:37-38.

Somewhere in my late 40’s the line in the Lord’s Prayer, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” convicted me that, if I really believed that prayer, I needed to vote. And I have tried to make prayer a foundation of that choice.

This fall as I was reading, studying, and preparing the lessons on the book of Daniel I was again reminded of the deep requirements God has of human leaders, and that, no matter who was in power, Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael were to stay true, faithful, and obedient to God Almighty. Daniel exemplified the commitment to prayer; he stood in the window and prayed (in open defiance to human law) 6:10, and prayed “in the gap” for God’s people 9:1-19.

Those four lives fulfilled what Jeremiah wrote in the letter he sent to the exiles; the Lord required that they were to settle down in the land where they were living, build homes, marry and have children. “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” 29:4-7

Our current study of the letter James sent to believers also emphasizes how followers of Jesus Christ are to live no matter where they live; seeking God’s wisdom, whole-heartedly loving God, loving each other, and that everything we do and say is a testimony to the hope and healing offered through the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I have already cast my vote in this presidential election. Now, I pray; pray for peace, pray for whoever is elected to the highest office of this country, pray that the followers of Jesus continue to do and say what Jesus has taught us, particularly in his Sermon on the Mount, and to do what God expects from His people “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” Micah 6:8.

Followers of Jesus around the world live as citizens of the countries in which we live. All are to respect and be obedient to the laws of the land, but also recognize that it is God’s mercies, not the world’s governments, that are the foundation of the Christian community. Christ followers are called to prayer and faithfulness as we hold to our identity as “God’s reconciled and reconciling community, and [our call to be] God’s chosen instrument of blessing for the world.”1

I’m praying for you.

Pastor Deb

1Bergen, Dave. Foreword. “Beyond the Law: Living the Sermon on the Mount” by Philip K. Clemens, Herald Press, 2007, p. 12.