Let Your Vote and Life Count for Something

Genuine righteousness leads to life, but pursuing evil leads to death.

Proverbs 11:19

My son predicted the outcome of the Florida GOP primary.  It was quite funny actually.  My youngest and I were making our way home after running an errand to pick up some lunch snacks for the next day when some coverage of the election came on the radio.  My son sat calmly in the passenger seat playing on a handheld game, seemingly oblivious to all that was going on around him. Yet, when the announcer on the radio said something like, “Both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney have blanketed the state of Florida with advertising costing millions, but at this hour it is hard to tell who will win.” 

It was at that moment, as if he had been listening the whole time and had been following the race and movements of the political gyrations of the candidates for years, that my son piped up and said, “Mitt Romney is going to win.”  There was not a moment’s pause from his game or a hint of hesitation in his voice.  Of course this prompted me to ask him, “How can you be so sure when most of the folks who are not nine-year-olds and can actually vote are still riding the fence.” 

“I don’t know.  His name just sounds like a president’s name.  I like it.”  And there you have it folks.  My son is a political genius.  This, however, made me wonder about all of the reasons why a person would vote for a particular candidate.  Could there still be people out there who will, by their vote, put a man in the highest office of the land without any more consideration than the “ring” of his name or the color of tie and suit that he might wear or how tall he is or the color of his skin or the one-time mistakes or successes?  It is amazing to me that year after election year we have these discussions about the depth of consideration of each man or woman who seeks the office and just about always come back with an affirmation that many simply vote for a particular person because of these shallow reasons. 

For instance, many discounted a bid for the candidacy by New Jersey’s governor because he apparently is overweight by a decent bit.  Most of the political analysts were not being critical of his weight, but of the American people and their ability to see past the girth to the man who must might be the best qualified for the job and able to articulate the views of the vast majority of the American people.    It’s odd, but fairly typical.

Most people are perfectly comfortable staying on the surface of not just political issues, but in more important matters, like spirituality.  They carry a Bible, put on some nice clothes, head off to a worship service or two and yet never really strive for maturity, moving ever closer the meat and steadily away from the milk of God’s word.  They never seem to scratch the surface enough to reveal that they are not actually living the Christian life, performing any valuable ministry and serving anyone other than self.  They don’t “prove all things.”  They don’t contemplate the pull of the stuff and nonsense of the world on their lives, count them but dung and keep their eyes on the prize.  Much like their ballot, they check off their box for worship with regularity and pretend there is more spiritual substance to their existence than there truly is.

Don’t get me wrong here, I am not picking on those who struggle, fall down, try to get up, get discouraged, lose ground, get up, move forward, get knocked down, pick themselves up…and so on.  On the contrary, these are the folks that have depth beyond the veneer of the shiny clean Christian.  These are the Peter, and Paul and Thomas-like Christians, whose faith, though not without serious issues, ends up moving mountains.  Rather, this is a call those who want the name and look of such men, but just simply don’t want to actually be them or act accordingly. 

In this day, it is my prayer that you are not what my eldest son refers to as a “spiritual robot,” coldly going through the motions of faith with little thought or effort.  Instead, find hope and take heart in your weaknesses, lay them on Christ and live your faith, even when it falls flat on its face.