On this day of elections, a snippet from probably my favorite political piece ever, Let Christians Vote As Though They Were Not Voting by John Piper:
We are not here to possess. We are here to lay up treasures in heaven.Search the Scriptures and vote your biblically-shaped conscience today. Give candidates your vote. But not your hope.
This world matters. But it is not ultimate. It is the stage for living in such a way to show that this world is not our God, but that Christ is our God. It is the stage for using the world to show that Christ is more precious than the world.
So it is with voting. We do not withdraw. We are involved—but as if not involved. Politics does not have ultimate weight for us. It is one more stage for acting out the truth that Christ, and not politics, is supreme . . .
. . . We deal with the system. We deal with the news. We deal with the candidates. We deal with the issues. But we deal with it all as if not dealing with it. It does not have our fullest attention. It is not the great thing in our lives. Christ is. And Christ will be ruling over his people with perfect supremacy no matter who is elected and no matter what government stands or falls. So we vote as though not voting.
3 comments:
Whoa! Bang on! "Give candidates your vote. But not your hope."
I just posted a quote from Mark Driscoll who refers to Thomas Sowell discussing Republicans and Democrats. Driscoll says, "Sowell defines the two visions for the transformation of our culture as 'constrained' and 'unconstrained.' The constrained (Republican) vision views human nature as selfishly sinful and places its hope in restraining our sin through the law. The unconstrained (Democratic) vision is diametrically opposed to this. It optimistically perceives human nature as basically good and capable of perfection in this life through social planning, including public education, government programs, and social services. The one thing these two visions have in common is that their faith rests in institutions; they simply disagree as to whether these institutions should release us or restrain us."
Both Democrats and Republicans rely on government process to 'fix' and 'run' things in our country. And while the American Experiment may be the best kind of government (separation of powers) that man has come up with, I agree with Piper: we must not put our hope in these men and their processes. Our treasure is in the kingdom of heaven.
Applause and joyful tears! Our God reigns!
Amen!!! :-)
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