As an individual I’m an avid fan and follower of American politics. As a pastor I’m a shepherd of God’s people and have a responsibility to advance the Gospel, train God’s sheep, and provides counsel, advice, and wisdom on matters pertaining to the lives of God’s people.
As a private citizen of the United States of America, I actually have been given one vote to solid within the 2024 presidential election. As a pastor I actually have the responsibility of stewarding the lives and questions of my congregants while in search of to provide the most effective wisdom I can to those in search of my counsel on such matters.
As an individual, I’m liable for who I vote for within the 2024 presidential election. As a pastor, I’m liable for stewarding God’s people and their questions regarding such matters pertaining to life and godliness – and politics could be one among those areas.
As an individual, I live in a blue state, Colorado. As a pastor, I pastor an Evangelical Southern Baptist Church named Vanguard Church in Colorado Springs. My position as an individual and a pastor matter on this election just because the personage and position of other US residents matters to the 2024 presidential election equation, but how and the way much?
Because politics comes with power, and a lot of it. Based off our democracy and strategy of election, the degrees of authority and influencers in our society grow to be critical to the equation. Yet, it has been my impression, in watching how things unfolded during Covid that our desire to manage people and to inform them what to imagine is of little to no value in such an election season. Celebrities and powerful pastors and even politicians think they own the ability to steer people to do what they need, but I actually have not found this to be the case with Americans and particularly American Christians and specifically American Evangelical Christians.
The debate over whether the morality of the candidate matters in an election 12 months seems to not even be a talking point in our society. The corruption of politics and politicians has reached a fair higher level than the scandals of so many senior pastors of our day. It is remarkable though to observe politicians with no character cancel pastors who’ve been exposed for having no character.
We live sadly in a gross society where insult, name calling, and character assassination is the secret. The only problem is, nobody has any character seemingly anymore and nobody seems to care that nobody anymore has any character left to assassinate.
In Jesus’ time, he was asked, “Master, should we pay taxes?” Jesus’ response was to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, meaning, yes, taxes are something that every citizen pays, and, in our democracy, voting is how we show our support of the one who’s liable for determining taxes and the way much we pay back to our government to run the affairs of our country. The job of the President is to work with Congress to erect a budget that enables our nation to live inside its means while tending to the matters at hand to look after our nation and to represent democracy and support to our allies world wide.
As we near this 2024 presidential election there is no such thing as a discussion about balancing the federal budget, there is no such thing as a discussion of being fiscally responsible with what has been entrusted to us. There isn’t any plan for turning us back from the cliff that our nation is headed toward, aside from learning to live inside our means. Our federal government is modelling to us that they should not have to live of their means, and neither will we. All of us in various measures are drinking the Kool-Aid that we will spend how we would like, where we would like, with no consequence. But everyone knows this will not be true. We see the consequence in our own lives.
Since 9/11 our nation has been morally and financially predominantly heading the flawed direction. Our respect for authority, our desire to instill a piece ethic, and the need to honour our structure by all parties involved is unhappy to watch, behold, and process each day.
We have all seemingly sadly settled for “the lesser of two evils” conversation and though I do not disagree we must always vote, we’re left to fight it out over a morsel of bread that sadly is not going to satisfy the wrath we feel from God toward our nation.
As a pastor I need to encourage you to vote, I need to encourage you to face for morality and the reality of God’s Word as you vote, but I also need to encourage you to recollect what God said to the nation of Israel and the best way to best preserve a nation.
God said in 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people who find themselves called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and switch from their wicked ways, then I’ll hear from heaven and can forgive their sin and heal their land.”
In Romans 13, it makes clear that the job of the federal government is to represent God to the people. Sadly, we’ve got politicians that may’t get out of their very own way and desires, and we’ve got a nation of residents who’re searching for someone to do for them what they don’t need to do for themselves. God calls his people to get on our faces before Him, to repent, and to ask Him to bless our nation.
Can I invite you as an individual to vote? It is the ability given to you by your government. But as a pastor, can I invite you to hope because that’s the ability given to you by God. Pray for a President who will seek the face of Jesus and seek to surround themselves with individuals who will give them wisdom from God.
Oh, how our nation needs a Jesus-following leader.
