Final Election Results Announced: Who God Is Voting For

Many are calling the 2012 Presidential election the most important in history.  It is certainly the most expensive, exceeding a billion dollars in advertising alone.  Participation in the election is expected to be high, with more than 30% in swing states casting votes early.

As the intensity crescendos to Election Day, it is important to recognize there is one election more important and expensive than the 2012 presidential contest.  It is an election that has implications far beyond the next four years or even the United States.  It is an election that should shape how we handle the importance and our participation in this year’s presidential election.  It answers the question of whom God is voting for in the big Election.

The amazing news of the Gospel is that when God had every option available to Him and stepped into the voting booth, He made a world-changing choice.  Jesus announced it this way:

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other.”  John 15:16-17

Congratulations!  Even if you didn’t know or want to be a candidate, if you are a follower of Jesus, you have been elected!  It is a humbling exciting truth.  It is also the most important and expensive election in history.  God is on a mission to redeem all that is broken in the world – to answer the prayer of God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven.  His commitment to it is demonstrated through His love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).  There has never been nor will ever be a greater cost or demonstration of love.  Jesus’ resurrection sets us free to for our elected purpose: to go and bear fruit.

The ultimate good news is that Jesus is king.  Jesus’ reign matters more than any other.  Jesus’ kingdom is eternal and ultimate.  All of this has important implications for our participation in the privilege of national elections:

1.  Our participation in matters of earthly importance like voting is valuable.  What does God want to see happen according to God’s redemptive mission in the world?  God has revealed Himself uniquely in His Word.  So, when we step into the voting booth, rather than voting according to what we think might be best for us personally or for our political party, consider what will best reflect and further God’s purposes in the world. 

2.  The good news is God is in control.  Paul goes so far as to say those in governing positions of authority are placed there by God’s sovereignty (see Romans 13:1).  This is especially surprising because the Roman emperors of his day were persecuting Christians and promoting hedonism and injustice.  However, it is a strong statement of faith that even when it doesn’t look like it to our short-sighted vision, God is in control.

3.  Because Jesus is king, he reigns over everything regardless of national identity or political party.  This one central reality offers genuine hope and unity.  The future is not ultimately determined by who will be in the White House the next four years (as important as that is), but Who it is on the Throne for eternity and over all Creation.  It would behoove whoever is in the White House to consult and submit to the One who truly reigns.  This is also the source of our unity as Christians.  In a politically polarizing society, what can be a more powerful witness than Christians across political persuasions fulfilling the King’s command: Love one another.

4.  Prioritize and give yourself to the purposes for which you have been elected.  Imagine a president being elected to the Oval Office and then spending the term only enjoying the privileges of the office without giving themselves to the purposes for which they were elected.  Ludicrous right?  We too have been elected, elected to the greatest of all privileges as ambassadors of the Kingdom of God (2 Corinthians 5:20).  There are wonderful promises and benefits to be enjoyed as those God has elected, but also responsibility to fully give ourselves to the mission for which we have been chosen.  With His help, we are called to fulfill the purposes of our election, to bear much fruit.

All-Encompassing Good News

How do we describe the impact of the Gospel?  John Calvin, in his timeless preface to Pierre Robert Olivétan's French translation of the New Testament (1534), does it this way:

Without the gospel

everything is useless and vain;

without the gospel

we are not Christians;

without the gospel

all riches is poverty,
all wisdom folly before God;
strength is weakness,
and all the justice of man is under the condemnation of God.

But by the knowledge of the gospel we are made

children of God,
brothers of Jesus Christ,
fellow townsmen with the saints,
citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven,
heirs of God with Jesus Christ, by whom

the poor are made rich,
the weak strong,
the fools wise,
the sinner justified,
the desolate comforted,
the doubting sure,
and slaves free.

It is the power of God for the salvation of all those who believe.

It follows that every good thing we could think or desire is to be found in this same Jesus Christ alone.

For, he was

sold, to buy us back;
captive, to deliver us;
condemned, to absolve us;

he was

made a curse for our blessing,
[a] sin offering for our righteousness;
marred that we may be made fair;

he died for our life; so that by him

fury is made gentle,
wrath appeased,
darkness turned into light,
fear reassured,
despisal despised,
debt canceled,
labor lightened,
sadness made merry,
misfortune made fortunate,
difficulty easy,
disorder ordered,
division united,
ignominy ennobled,
rebellion subjected,
intimidation intimidated,
ambush uncovered,
assaults assailed,
force forced back,
combat combated,
war warred against,
vengeance avenged,
torment tormented,
damnation damned,
the abyss sunk into the abyss,
hell transfixed,
death dead,
mortality made immortal.

In short,

mercy has swallowed up all misery,
and goodness all misfortune.

For all these things which were to be the weapons of the devil in his battle against us, and the sting of death to pierce us, are turned for us into exercises which we can turn to our profit.

If we are able to boast with the apostle, saying, O hell, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? it is because by the Spirit of Christ promised to the elect, we live no longer, but Christ lives in us; and we are by the same Spirit seated among those who are in heaven, so that for us the world is no more, even while our conversation is in it; but we are content in all things, whether country, place, condition, clothing, meat, and all such things.

And we are

comforted in tribulation,
joyful in sorrow,
glorying under vituperation,
abounding in poverty,
warmed in our nakedness,
patient amongst evils,
living in death.

This is what we should in short seek in the whole of Scripture: truly to know Jesus Christ, and the infinite riches that are comprised in him and are offered to us by him from God the Father.

Positively Columbine (revisited)

Words have enormous power to create. Words define and so do moments. Columbine is an example of both.

Twelve years ago, the word columbine conjured images of flowers that decorate the Rocky Mountains and this region. It is the State flower of Colorado. They are beautiful and colorful. They are hearty enough to make it through hard cold winters to bloom again with all their vibrancy each Spring.

Twelve years ago the meaning of columbine changed with a moment. For most of us, the beautiful noun became a shocking adjective and verb, used in ways no one could have imagined. It became synonymous with the worst of school violence and the tragedy of evil. In a day, the new meaning of columbine took hold across the country and around the world. “Columbine-like” no longer meant flowers. It was part of the tragedy.

Twelve years ago I lived in Ohio. Like most in our country, I watched in disbelief and from a distance as media carried stories from Columbine High School nestled in the Columbine community within the city of Littleton. In the days that followed, the meaning of columbine was redefined. It was easy, from a distance, to accept the new meaning.

Four and a half years ago we moved to Littleton, around the corner from Columbine High School and the community it’s nestled in. What I have discovered is a High School and community not defined by the tragedy twelve years ago, but the triumphs they have experienced since. It is a rare tight-knit active community with a shared resolve unlike any community I have seen. Like the flower, it is a beautiful and colorful community. Together, they have discovered they are hearty enough to make it through a hard cold winter and bloom all the more with familiar vibrancy. I don’t mean this in some trite esoteric way. It is true in the daily reality of how they choose to live and relate.

For me, Columbine used to stand for school violence and evil. That was when I lived at a distance. That was when I allowed its meaning to be changed by people (media) who didn’t live there and didn’t know better. No longer. It’s just not true. On the contrary. The truth is this community represents vibrancy, kindness, blessing and resolve. For me, “Columbine-like” does not mean evil, but good. It is not devastation; it is restoration. It is not despair; it is hope. It is not victims, but victors. It is not powerless, but a community of determined resolve. It is not defined by one act of senseless violence, but countless acts of intentional kindness. It is not death, but resurrection.

I challenge all who read this to no longer define Columbine by a tragic event, nor to describe a tragic event by the name of Columbine. It’s just not true.

It’s time to change the meaning of a familiar word to reflect its true essence. What if Columbine, like the flower and the community, meant beauty, kindness, regeneration and resolve? What if we call it “columbine” when neighbors gather around a family to see them through a difficult time? (I have seen that happen in Columbine neighborhoods.) What if a marriage is renewed or “columbined” through the encouragement of family and friends? What if it is called “so columbine” when volunteer teams gather in New Orleans to rebuild homes of people they have never met after Hurricane Katrina? What if a painting is described as “columbine” when a variety of colors or materials are brought together to create something beautiful? The possibilities are endless, but the essence is the same. It is positively Columbine.

Words have enormous power to create. Words define and so do moments. Columbine is an example of both.

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You're On

“If I have a hope, it’s that God sat over the dark nothing and wrote you and me, specifically, into the story, and put us in with the sunset and the rainstorm as though to say, Enjoy your place in my story. The beauty of it means you matter, and you can create within it even as I have created you.

I’ve wondered, though, if one of the reasons we fail to acknowledge the brilliance of life is because we don’t want the responsibility inherent in the acknowledgement. We don’t want to be characters in a story because characters have to move and breathe and face conflict with courage. And if life isn’t remarkable, then we don’t have to do any of that; we can be unwilling victims rather than grateful participants.”

~ Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

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Born For This

The joyous miracle of Pentecost was not that Christians began to speak in tongues as much as it was that others heard the wonders of God declared in their own language through them. In this and for this the church was born.

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Ever-Expanding Easter

"The Resurrection was not regarded simply or chiefly as evidence for the immortality of the soul ... There is not in Scripture the faintest suggestion that the Resurrection was new evidence for something that had in fact been always happening. The New Testament writers speak as if Christ's achievement in rising from the dead was the first event of its kind in the whole history of the universe. He is the 'first fruits,' or the 'pioneer of life'. He has forced open the door that has been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because He has done so. This is the beginning of the New Creation: a new chapter in cosmic history has opened."

C.S. Lewis, Miracles

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Our Task ... Should We Choose to Accept It

"The human race has been in exile ... Our task is to announce in word and deed that the exile is over, to enact the symbols that speak of healing and forgiveness, to act boldly in God's world in the power of the Spirit. ... Your task is to find the symbolic ways of doing things differently, planting flags in hostile soil, setting up signposts that say there is a different way to be human. And when people are puzzled at what you are doing, find ways - fresh ways - of telling the story of the return of the human race from it's exile, and use those stories as your explanation."

N. T. Wright


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