Thoughts about Election Day

               In just a few weeks, people in our community will enter the voting booth to elect persons to serve  our community, state, and nation.   In these days, we are bombarded with messages from the candidates as we drive down the road,  open our local newspaper, and turn on the television.     In these messages, we often hear about the virtues of the candidates for office and the vices of their opponents. 

            We are in a position unlike the fathers and mothers of our faith that we read about in the scriptures.   While we who live in a democracy choose our leaders, the Israelites and the early Christians did not choose their leaders.  No, their leaders were chosen by God.   Israel did not choose Saul to be its first king;  no,  God chose Saul.   David, often considered to be one of the greatest Kings in the history of Israel, was not chosen by the general populace.  No,  God chose David even as a boy to be king of Israel.   Things did not change when Christ Jesus came. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were not chosen by their communities to be disciples;  no, they were chosen by Christ Jesus.  We read in the early pages of Acts that when the disciples chose a replacement disciple for Judas, they did not vote but cast lots for the replacement believing that the Lord God would guide the process. 

            All of us will hear a lot in the next few weeks  about all the candidates for office and from the candidates.   Some may have heard more than we would like to hear.   As a person of faith, I suggest to you that I need to hear from someone else:  God.   Who would God have us choose to be the leaders of our community, state, and nation?

            Below are some questions I am prayerfully asking myself in these days.  I encourage all people of faith to do the same.  Those questions are as follows:

Which candidates are ones that personify the great commandment of loving God and neighbor?

Which candidates for office espouse an agenda that seeks what is fair and just for the most people?

Which candidates live a life that shows Christ Jesus?

            Let us pray for our community, state, and nation during these election days.  Let us pray for ourselves that God will give us wisdom beyond ourselves.  -Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:  Lord and God,  we did not choose you, but you chose us to be your disciples.  Give us grace and wisdom for choosing our leaders in these days; through Christ our Lord. Amen.