I'm so freaking sick of this election season. You probably are too.
This year-and-a-half has proven to be one of the most frustrating, non-conventional, and conflict-inducing election seasons that our generation may ever see. Clinton and Trump are both well outside of the moral character that any believer could naturally vote for. Needless to say, their policies certainly don't help much.
I've struggled as a believer in how I argue and debate and show the love of God to my friends, how I handle myself on social media, and when I need to keep my mouth shut. One of the only things I've been able to fall back on is the classic question we all know so well: What would Jesus do? What would Jesus vote for? Here are three things that I believe Jesus would say:
1. Jesus would vote for you to be kind and considerate, not aggressive and condescending.
Social media has turned into a nightmare. It's absolutely obscene the things that I've seen friends of mine (and at times, even myself), write. All in the name of "truth" or "justice" on one candidate or another. Look. I get it. Clinton is going to lead the next abortion genocide and Trump is a walking billboard for the next president to be involved in a sex scandal. Still, I don't care how bad a particular politician is: nothing justifies some of the things I've read CHRISTIANS spewing towards one another.
So while I'm not quite sure who Jesus would vote for, I'm sure He would vote that in the remaining days of this election season, His children get a little better at how they share and voice their opinions on social media.
2. Jesus would vote for you to have an eternal perspective of strong faith, not one of political fear
At the end of the day...God is still on the throne. Whether Clinton brings in the next great era of Christian persecution, or Donald Trump starts WWIII, God will still reign supreme. Did we forget that somewhere along the way? We are spending eternity with Him, and that should give us joy and hope.
Fear is simply the absence of faith, and an abundance of fear is a lack of faith. God doesn't necessarily call us to have faith in our political leaders. We might, if they line up with our beliefs and have a great track record! But that's not a prerequisite for us to remember Him in this time.
So get on your knees. Pray. Ask God to remove the spirit of fear and give you a spirit of faith in return.
3. Jesus would vote for us to be on our knees in prayer over both of these candidates
Often times we don't give prayer the respect it deserves as a mover of mountains. There is a high probability that one of the two front-runners right now will be president. And we are clearly commanded to pray for our leaders in Scripture. So why not start praying now? No, I'm certainly not saying that one of the two will or must be president. However...training ourselves to pray for people we don't like or agree with (or in this case, people who are pretty much opposite from leaders we'd hope for), is something I know I don't do enough.
So stop being a jerk on social media. Remember the discipline of eternal perspective and abandon that temporary fear. And lastly, start praying for them. You hate them. I get it; neither of us like them. But that doesn't mean we are exempt from the command to pray for them. As much as we might cringe.
And maybe, just maybe, one of them will get saved, and we'll see something incredible happen. If it happened to Paul, it can happen to anyone.
