Have no fear, it's just an election, people

This pretty much sums up my thoughts for today....

Have no fear
by John Fischer

Well it's finally here, and not a day too soon – election day for those of us in the U.S. of A. I hope you all exercise your great American privilege to get out and vote. Vote your choice, and vote your privilege, and please make sure that fear has nothing to do with it.

There has been a rash of fear mongering going on that should not command any of our attention. So many have fallen into the scheme of inciting fear as a motivation to get people to act. There is simply no room for fear in a believers life in any way, shape or form, and any Christian leader who would use these tactics over other Christians for whatever reason is violating the gospel of Jesus Christ and canceling out the hope that is to be our distinctive mark in the world – the evidence of the presence of Christ in our hearts.

Peter told us: "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have" (1 Peter 3:14-15). Notice how fear is contrasted with hope. You can see why it's so important. Our hope is the means by which we will have an opportunity to speak of the goodness of God in our lives. So if people look at us and see fear, they will only think one thing, "Who wants their God? They're more afraid than I am." If we are to always be ready to give an answer to anyone who might ask us the reason for our hope, then what we will say to those who ask us why we are so afraid?

This is just an election. It's not the end of the world. We have one of these every four years. And God is not in heaven with His fingers crossed, hoping for a certain turnout. God is over all of this. So go, vote proudly, watch what happens, and know that nothing escapes His constant care.

We are the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in a broken world. Sure, voting and getting involved in the political process can be a small part of that—but we can’t use politics to abdicate ourselves of our responsibility to be loving, to fight injustice, to feed the hungry, to heal the sick and to constantly look to God’s word for his guidance about the important issues we face every day. When we limit ourselves to slandering or blindly following politicians, we fall far short of the plan God has for us in this world. When we put trust in a politician as our “only hope,” we are forgetting where our real hope lies. ~ Michael Geertsma