Democracy is a relatively new experiment or 'democratic republic' which is a little more precise. As Americans we forget that I think; that people in times past were subject to kings, despots, tyrants of various sorts and the average person struggled generally with just having enough to eat for another day, and that next day was filled with more struggles of the same. An accident, sickness, lack of shelter or proper sanitation, could all kill you as well. If you were a Christian in the early church you were also persecuted by the Roman government. Democracy (under the rule of the Caesars) was for the wealthy and those who shared the emperors favor. And yet it was into that world that Christianity was thrust with just a handful of people. If you follow the Apostle Paul's missionary journeys, you find how quickly it spread (infected the Romans would say) throughout the empire. It touched every class of people in the known world and then began to spread into the unknown (at least unknown to those of the empire).
So today I have this luxury of helping pick who will rule me. Or at least I have the illusion that I am picking. It matters not, as God sets up rulers and takes them down. Just read the Book of Daniel chapter 4 for an interesting account of one rulers encounters with God. I mean not to offend anyone but from where I sit today it appears to be a contest between Donald and Hillary. It's all subject to change of course. I hear Christians arguing that you can't vote for Trump or you can't vote for Clinton, all for well meaning reasons (to them at least). Some argue you shouldn't vote at all, or you can only vote for a Conservative or a Liberal, or neither. I am not contemptuous or cynical of the whole process, well maybe a little, but I am concerned that some believe the outcome will somehow determine the outcome of their faith. They would never admit that if you cornered them with the thought, but I have heard some rather nasty things said, that if you vote or don't vote a certain way, then the Church will collapse and Christianity will go into the dark ages. I guess I wonder who they think is running the planet? Once again read Daniel chapter 4.
Now I do believe outcomes matter. There are consequences to elections, just like there are consequences for sin (I'll just leave that sentence right where it is. Some will be amused and some will not). But I think about those who don't have the luxury even of the illusion of picking a ruler. Right now in the city of Lincoln are homeless people, hopeless people, hungry people, segregated people, lonely people, imprisoned people, sick people, dying people, foreign people, struggling people and so forth.
For them elections probably matter little. Their world is will I see tomorrow? And that makes me wonder, "What is the Church of Jesus called to? What am I called to?" Will I vote? Of course I will, it's my duty as a citizen. Men and women have fought and died so that I have that basic right. I will vote if for no other reason than to honor those veterans both living and dead. But what am I supposed to do? How should I live? After all, I claim to be a Christian and a member of the Church Universal! I think often of that story of Jesus where he was asked if we should pay taxes to the Romans or not. And that classic, end-all-arguments, winner take all answer was "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." Simple, straightforward, to the point, no beating around the bush, no follow up questions; just God setting the record straight. So there are things that belong to God and things that belong to Caesar. My goal each day is to be more concerned about the things that belong to God than the things that belong to Caesar. Each new day God must increase in my life, and I must decrease, to paraphrase John the Baptist. And if I am decreasing so must Caesar. Oh, I will engage Caesar, and I may even enrage him because of that engagement, but the kingdoms of this world will all perish in the end. Of His Kingdom there is no end or of His righteousness or of His peace. And it pays to remember there is a separation of goats and sheep. Hmm? Lord when did I see you hungry, naked, blind, in prison, without hope, dying, cold, lonely? God help us all.
