Voting is not the most important thing you do today.
Like me, I assume you are tired of seeing signs to get out and vote on every website, YouTube video, and maybe even on the alb of your pastor as he hands you the host. It almost makes me not want to vote. Yeah, that’s how Americans think. Or used to. They don’t like being told what to do.
More than ever, voting, has been lifted up as the most important thing you can do. I am sure no one this year will admit to not voting in fear of suffering verbal abuse! Of course, MTV and your favorite pop star have been pleading with you to vote for decades. Now, your grandma is making cookies of her chosen candidate when you come visit.
Certainly we have a responsibility to vote. In fact, voting is a way by which we love and serve our neighbor as we put in our voice for who we think will best protect and provide opportunity for prosperity for all people, from the unborn to the outcast. It is certainly important – if you previously have done your homework on determining the best policies and leaders.
However, voting is by far not the most important thing you do today. Try saying hello to your neighbor when you see her getting the mail. Open your eyes to see the lonely hurting classmate who would use a kind word or a shared meal. Text an enemy and tell them you love them, forgive them, are praying for them. Obey your parents. Discipline and love your kids. Listen to God’s Word. Share the story of a God who loves sinners with a neighbor. Certainly these things are equal, if not more important to the immediate benefit of your neighbor.
Like voting, we often times get really excited about big, global events and issues instead of seeing the average and immediate need right in front of us. Social media makes it worse, as we are made to believe that a situation halfway across the world deserves our immediate attention while we trip over the person living next door or in our house.
God was laid in a manger right in the midst of real people. He was hung on the cross between two sinners. He places His forgiveness and hope on your ordinary lips through a not so brilliant pastor in a poorly decorated church. Yet, that is where God does his most wonderful work. At the bedside of a retired construction worker or the kitchen table of a couple contemplating divorce.
Voting is important. It’s not the most important. The weight of the world doesn’t actually rest on your shoulders. It rests on Christ who says, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest!” So, rest today of all days! Sins forgiven and death conquered for you!