Wednesday, November 7, 2012

What Shall We Do After The Election?

Now that the election is over along all of the political ads and the prerecorded phone calls from the candidates, what are we, as Christians, are to do now? Let us look in the Bible to answer that.

First, remember that in His sovereignty, God allowed the president to be in power. Romans 13:1 says, "For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God." I know this might be hard for some of you to grasp because your candidate did not win. In 1996, I voted for the first time (its was when Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, and Ross Perot ran for office) and I wanted to remove the man from the Oval Office (if you know your history, you know who I mean). When I found out that person won, I was mad and one of friends said, it was in God's will that this happened. I could not accept that truth. Now I know that it is true that God has established the president to be in power and He is in complete control of what is going on.

Second, pray for the president and all elected officials. Paul wrote, "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way" (1 Timothy 2:1-2). Yeah, another hard one especially if your candidate did not win, but we are called to pray for those in authority.

Finally, Honor the president. Jesus said, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (Mark 12:17). Paul wrote to the Roman church, "Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed" (Romans 13:7). Peter also said to his readers, "Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor" (1 Peter 2:13-16). Another hard thing to do. Honor a man you did not elect or agree with in a lot of issues. Remember, when we honor our elected officials, it does not mean we obey when they tell us to do something that goes against Scripture just as Daniel did in the Old Testament (Daniel 6:10) and the Apostles in the New Testament (Acts 5:29). Russell Moore recently said, "Honor doesn’t mean blanket endorsement."

One final thing: Jesus is still King of Kings no matter who is in the White House.

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