This isn’t the post I was planning on sharing this week, but since tomorrow is an important election day in this country, I have many musings that are weighing heavily upon me.

If you think I am going to offer my thoughts and opinion as to how others should vote, you would be incorrect. I have every confidence that you are more than capable of making that decision for yourself. If you think I am going to share how I am going to vote and my reasonings, you would also be mistaken. I can say, however, that after much thought, prayer, and inner wrestling with myself, I have reached a conclusion — If I truly believe God is sovereign, meaning that I believe all things are under His authority and control (even this election), then I am free to vote according to my conviction and conscious, resting in the fact that He has a plan. If He is sovereign, then He is fully sovereign.

Can I be fairly transparent here? I don’t think God is going to judge me for how I vote in this election. I know people would if they knew my decision but I don’t believe God will. I have walked it through with Him alone and I am at peace with my vote. However, if I am holding anger or bitterness inside of me towards another in this process, I will be judged for that. If I am unkind or withhold mercy and justice towards another, I am wrong.

Consider this, what if the condition of my heart and the sin that I harbor towards another are of greater importance to God than my vote in this election? Is it possible that my attitude and the harsh words I speak against those I disagree with carry a greater weight in eternity than my vote in this election or whether I believe masks are effective or not in this present season of a world-wide virus?

Over the course of this last year, I have been greatly troubled by the arrogance, bitterness, unkindness, and lack of love I have watched play out, over and over. However, I have been convicted of my own sin and how quick I can be to judge another when in reality, my own need of forgiveness is just as great — arguably greater than most.

In light of these thoughts, what is weighing on me today is to share some of the Scriptures that have been guiding me and lighting my path during these last months and in these days leading up to this election. As we read over these passages together, my prayer is that the Holy Spirit will be at work to enlighten the eyes of our hearts and guide us as we seek to move forward in humility and love.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘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 22:36-39)

My thought -> This passage has weighed most heavily on me throughout the course of this entire year. Jesus flat out tells us how to do this — how to live our lives for His glory. Love God above all and then love our neighbor as ourselves. Have my words, both those spoken publicly on social media, as well as, those spoken privately within myself or to another indicated a love for my God and my neighbor? Or, upon careful consideration, do they indicate that the one I love most of all is … myself?

“If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.

Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 Love never fails …”
1 Corinthians 13: 1-8a

My thought -> As Christians, we love to quote this passage and truly believe we are living examples of it. I have found personally that, when confronted with the truth of this passage and the reality of my sin nature, I was more an example of the first two verses as opposed to the rest. I’ve been little more than a clanging cymbal on my best days. I have spent years reading this passage, prayerfully meditating over it, and ultimately submitting my selfish perspective of love in repentance to a Holy God — and I’ve had to do this a thousand times since. This passage is a guiding light as to how to love my neighbor (or child, or family member, or anyone I have contact with) in a righteous and God-honoring way.

“He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?”
Micah 6:8

My thought -> This verse has convicted me for many years and in the light of the events of this past year, it has often been the source of much contemplation for me. Our God is a holy God. He is a just God. He is also a God of great mercy. Justice and mercy should be important to a believer but I find that last part to be most impactful — walk humbly with your God.

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:1-6)

Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but if there is any good word for edification according to the need of the moment, say that, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. All bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
(Ephesians 4:29-32)

My thoughts -> These final verses that I am sharing today are ones that I’ve been ruminating over for this entire past weekend and in fact, when I sat down to begin writing, they were intended to be the exclusive focus of this post to specifically address bitterness and anger. However, once I began typing, the Lord took me in a different direction and reminded me that His Word alone is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105) and His Word alone is sharper than any two-edged sword and is able to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). So I am not going to share my thoughts on these passages but rather would encourage the reader to ponder them prayerfully before the Lord, as I am continuing to do myself.

How are we doing with this exhortation from our brother, Paul?

I am going to leave it there. May God bless the reading of His Word and may we seek to honor Him in every detail of life, whether it be casting a vote for an elected official or loving our neighbor as Christ loves us.