Love Your Neighbor by Voting Biblically

 

Love Your Neighbor by Voting Biblically

How Politics Are a Way To Love Our Neighbor:

The thing about living in a representative republic like America is that its citizens have a Biblical responsibility for governance.  Notice I did not say politics, for that is merely the means, not the end in the civic sphere.  Above that is of course the Kingdom of God, but I get ahead of myself. 

Governance is a stewardship function of the Christian life that is one way we love our neighbors. It’s a stewarding responsibility aimed at the good of our neighbors.

Let’s examine two questions:

What does it mean to Love our Neighbor?

What is “the good” of our Neighbors?

The Greatest Commandments

Jesus taught the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind.  And the second is to love your neighbor as you love yourself. 

And what is it to love our Neighbor?

Loving our neighbor is to seek the good for him.  It is not a feeling, though we have those.  It is doing what is good for our neighbor.  James pointed this distinction out, “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what [does it] profit?”

What is “the good” of our Neighbors?

Good and Ultimate Good

There are many ‘goods’ for our neighbor, and one ultimate good.  As Jesus is praying to the Father in John 17:3, he says, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

That is the ultimate good.  We serve that good when we disciple the nations.  That’s part of our Christian sphere of responsibility.

General goods involve the well-being and welfare of our neighbors in a civic sphere.  What those smaller goods are amounts to ordering the different levels of governance to be in alignment with biblical life principles in our personal, family and civic lives.

In the civic sphere that means our involvement – at the very least – with governance.  And one of the most important roles there is as a voter. 

A very sad statistic is that nearly 40% of Christians did not vote in the last presidential election. 

Does a voter impose his morality on others? 

Of course!  All legislation is morality.  All laws seek some good, or the avoidance of evil.  Scratch a law of speed limits and you find the good of protecting lives.  Examine laws against fraud and you see the 8^th (stealing) and 9^th (false testimony) commandments played out. 

Ok, so we must vote, but for who?

This is where the rubber hits the road my Christian brothers and sisters.  We must be like  the men of Berea, described in Acts.  They had noble character, and received the gospel with eagerness and examined the scriptures to verify the truth of what was being taught.

Likewise, we must be thoughtful, discerning listeners of political rhetoric and operations of government.  We must heavily lean on God’s word and apply it to the civic sphere. 

What we can’t do is separate ourselves from the public square. For Christians to abandon governance is to abandon our neighbors to those would use our laws to rule us with bad intentions, or at the very least with incompetence.  And that’s not loving ourselves, or our neighbors. We can’t be neutral on a moving train. 

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.
Not to speak is to speak.
Not to act is to act.
God will not hold us guiltless.”     ~ Bonhoffer