Today is election day here in the United States, so it is appropriate that we spend extra time praying for our nation and culture. Some days it seems as though our culture is speeding toward a moral precipice and there are other days when it almost seems that we are aiming toward that precipice in a form of cultural suicide.
As we consider the state of our country–the division, the anger, the confusion–we are right to pray. We are also right to engage in the political process. It is a gift to have the privilege and opportunity to live in a country where we can have direct access and control over those who govern us. Throughout most of human history and in many places across our world today, the voting rights and privileges we enjoy as Americans has been and continues to be non-existent.
Go and vote because elections matter and elections have consequences. Vote your values because the people who are elected to office will shape law and policy for years to come. However, as you vote, be realistic.
Your vote has the chance to affect law and policy, but your vote does not change our culture. Politics are downstream of culture. Essentially, the cultural mood determines which politicians will be voted into office. If we want to change culture, we need more than politics.
The church is the great agent of social change and cultural transformation in our society today.
The church, the people of God carrying the hope and the message of Christ to a world that is lost and dying. The church is the hope for the world as the church engages others in love and not hate. The church is the hope for the world as the church proclaims truth and speaks face to face with our neighbors. The church is the place for hope as biblical hospitality is practiced among her people. The church is the place of hope because the church is God’s chosen vehicle to carry the gospel to the world.
Go vote today, but vote realizing that we are not citizens of this world, we are strangers in a foreign land, voting for a government that is subservient to the Great King. Vote, but do more than vote. Share the love of Christ with those at the polling station. Vote, but do more, share the gospel.
Do you want to see your culture changed? Vote, but recognize that your vote won’t really change the culture. Your vote reveals your culture and this election cycle will show the current status of our culture. If you want to see your culture changed, go talk to your neighbor. Have a conversation at the coffee shop or at McDonalds. Talk to someone different than you. Carry hope to the hopeless. Love the orphan. Care for the widow. Feed the hungry. Make peace and live peaceable.
