November 4, 2008 marked the tenth Presidential Election in which I have participated. Ever since I became twenty-one, the minimum legal voting age when I was young, I have participated in national, state, and local elections, trying to be as well educated and thoughtful voter as I could be. Thanks mostly to my dad, I had a good example of someone who took his responsibility as a citizen very seriously. I remember asking him from time to time, “Dad, who are you voting for?” or “Why did you pick this particular candidate?” and he always had a reason drawn from facts he had actually picked out that seemed to him to be a valid basis for his choice. He and my mom went proudly to the polls together until they were no longer able, and then they voted with absentee ballots, long before they became a vehicle for voter recruitment.

            Our country has grown tremendously in the years since I was first able to vote in a national election. Barriers of all kinds have fallen, and I must confess that even though I did not vote for Senator Obama, I am pleased and excited for our country. Just as a citizen of the USA, I took my responsibility to try and choose the best leaders I could, as a Christian, I will recognize that it is God who puts leaders in place to do His sovereign will, and I will respect, honor, and pray for them that they are protected and enabled to lead as He directs.

            The Presidency, like other positions of authority, always becomes a target for the bitter, the ambitious, and the enemies of democracy, and they assail the President with every force at their command. There is nothing wrong with loyal opposition, the honest disagreement over issues that we feel are crucial to the wellbeing of our society and I am not advocating that we fail to speak the truth when necessary. Because we are a Democracy we have every right to participate. That is an authority given to us by our Constitution and by our God.     But truth must be presented with love, not derision and lies. 

            If our country is to prosper, if our country is to be what our God intends, then we must listen to His words. In the book of Romans, Chapter 13, the Apostle Paul writes God’s view of governments. He says that it is God who puts governments in power, and that He gives them the authority for the good of those they govern. We are to respect and honor them. No bitter derision, no half-truths, no jockeying for position for “next time”. We have nothing to gain and everything to lose if we do otherwise. 

             So let this time be one of celebration in the freedom we as Christians have to have a voice in those who govern us. Let it be a time when we cherish our safety, because Christians the world over are dying in record numbers just because of their faith. And let us pray for our new government, that President Elect Obama will govern with wisdom and honor, that we may remain safe to worship and live as Christ directs and that we may be a city on a hill to the nations of the world, that they will see Christ in us.