For Tomorrow

Aren’t presidential elections fun! We should do this every year!!!

Maybe not.

Today – Tuesday, November 3rd – is election day. Tomorrow we’ll have results. Maybe not all of them, but some of them. We may or may not know who our next president is. We may or may not know which party controls congress. We may or may not know who will be leading our state offices.

There’s a lot that I don’t know, but here are a couple of things that I do know:

1. No matter the results of the elections, I will have a lot of friends despairing over the results.
2. That despair isn’t necessary, because…
3. No matter what, God is in control.

We keep hearing that this election is the most important election in our lifetime. I’ve heard that about every presidential election I’ve ever voted in. That’s not to say that it isn’t important, or even the most important, but we do need to keep some perspective. As the band Wilco sings, “every generation thinks it’s the end of the word.”

Read these words from Peter:

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

-1 Peter 2:13-17

A couple of takeaways from this:

1. We are to submit to the government, because God has commanded that we submit to the government.
2. Our primary citizenship is in the Kingdom of God, so our focus should be there.
3. This is being written to Christians who were being powerfully oppressed by their government through mask mandates arrests and martyrdom. If they are to submit to a government that actively attacks them, we can submit to ours.
4. No matter what, God is in control.
5. I’m in the mood to make lists.

Regardless what the results of this election will be, the world isn’t going to end. Unless it does, in which case the children of God will be better off! We can be upset, frustrated, or motived, but we shouldn’t be anxious, hateful, or disrespectful. Our focus tomorrow and next week should be on what our focus today and last week was supposed to be on: loving God and loving others (yes, even those that voted differently than you). Remember, we have a savior that lived a perfect life and died a sacrificial death, all so that we could be forgiven and live for eternity in heaven with Him, and that savior’s name wasn’t Joseph or Donald.

Be at peace. Trust in God’s guidance. Know that, no matter what, in good and in bad, His will will be done, and our assured hope is in a future where we won’t be voting on a flawed leader, we’ll be bowing before a glorious throne.