By the time, I vote for president in November 2012 my age will represent 16.75 four- year-election cycles. (Sure, a pause while you find your calculator.) Nevertheless, if you, like me, are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, November 2012 may be the most crucial vote you’ll ever cast.
Your vote is crucial, because a believer’s worldview is under attack throughout the world. Therefore, when you enter a voting booth in November 2012, you probably want the certainty you and God are on the same page about whose name you check on the ballot.
Question: How can you be positive the two of you agree about whom to vote? Answer: If you have a question, and your worldly wisdom does not have an indisputable answer, go to the Word of God, as it says in James, and find the sovereign answer (1:5).
So, you went to the Word, but found no direct reference to voting. Still, you know Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.” Therefore, you continue your search and God rewards your diligence by leading you to a verse that discusses how believers should respond to those who govern.
In Romans 13:1, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.”
That verse summarizes God’s sovereignty; beginning with His direction to believers to subordinate themselves to the “governing authorities.” Furthermore, He expects subordination because the authority (power) the “governing authorities” have comes from Him. Lastly, Romans 13:1 decrees that the authorities who govern with the authority He gives, He appoints.
(Yet, you might think, “what about tyrants; the Hitler’s, Saddam Hussein’s, Gddafi’s etc.; are believers to submit to those rulers?” Good question, however, that’s a subject for another time. A clue; Paul wrote the letter to believers in Rome, while Nero, who indiscriminately persecuted believers, was the Emperor of Rome.)
Again, you may think, that’s all well and good regarding Romans 13:1, but what does it have to do with being on the same page with God in a voting booth?
Thanks for asking. As the book of John reveals, God the Son uses believers to bring to Himself the inheritance of souls God the Father gave Him (14:12-13, 17:1-5).
Likewise, it makes sense that He uses the votes of believers to help elect the “governing authorities”
In God’s sovereignty, no matter who you vote for in the 2012 election, or whether you vote at all, He’s already appointed the next “governing authority.” So, He use believers, who are on the same page as He is, to vote for who He chooses them to vote, in order that who He chose is elected.
Food for thought: When you contemplate who you’ll vote for in the 2012 election, contemplate how that candidate meets God’s standards, instead of that candidates political standards.
All verses come from the NKJV