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, for 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 to look like her chosen candidate when you come to visit.
Certainly, we have a responsibility to vote. In fact, voting is a way by which we love and serve our neighbor as we speak for who we think will best protect and provide the 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 could use a kind word or a shared meal. Text an enemy and tell them you love them, forgive them, and are praying for them. Obey your parents. Raise your kids. Listen to God’s Word. Share the story of a God who loves sinners with your neighbor. Certainly, these things are equal if not more important to the immediate benefit of your neighbor.
Like voting, we oftentimes 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 own 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 are forgiven and death is conquered for you!
Don’t put all your marbles into the basket of who controls the house. Put them with the baby in the manger, the God on the cross, the empty grave, and the sure promises of the Son of God. You are a citizen of a Kingdom that is not dependent on election day.
