A friend asked of me a question that I usually field this time of year, every four years: How do I think Christians should vote?
Of course, that question is given all the more "import" this year because the field of presidential candidates has left so many folks scratching their heads, wondering what they'll do about the choice between two candidates that don't make for good choices.
So this was my response to my friend's inquiry, and I thought it would be good to share here, just so others can know what I'd say to that question: "How do I think Christians should vote this election?"
Of course, that question is given all the more "import" this year because the field of presidential candidates has left so many folks scratching their heads, wondering what they'll do about the choice between two candidates that don't make for good choices.
So this was my response to my friend's inquiry, and I thought it would be good to share here, just so others can know what I'd say to that question: "How do I think Christians should vote this election?"
I personally don't put much value to American politics in general, which means I'm not all that worried about voting. As a follower of Jesus, I see myself as a missionary from God's country in this one, stationed as I am in a foreign land, serving a different king and a different kingdom, with fairly strict orders not to get involved in "civilian affairs" (1 Timothy 2.4). I think American Christians place all too much trust in the American political process without really taking a critical eye for that that process asks of us. All our trust is to be in our king and his kingdom, which alone holds the solution to the world's problems. I also find absolutely no where in the NT where Jesus or the disciples tried to advise Caesar's regime on how he might do better.
I think we Christians vote every day, not just one day every year -- or every four years. We vote with every decision we make, by how we interact with people, by how we spend our money and our time. It's absolutely crucial for Christians to vote "yes" to God's kingdom with those decisions. But I'm not really all that worried about whatever political party promises or what their candidates might have to say. I simply don't invest that much in them. American politics -- like world politics generally -- is more a joke to me precisely because I think God views that politics as a joke (see Psalm 2).
Which is to say that when it comes to voting, I choose to say "yes" to God's Kingdom by saying no to the politics of the land. But I won't say that other kingdom people shouldn't vote. Everyone has to follow the Spirit in terms of what's allowed and what's forbidden. That's the freedom for which Christ has set us free.
My own convictions about Jesus have led me to place zero trust in the American political system. And this election cycle has been another confirmation that I keep making the right choice. Thing is, that means it's easy for people to accuse me of being apolitical.
But I don't think that's true. A "political" issue is any issue that affects the polis -- the city, the state. Jesus made a huge political impact not by tweaking the version of the kingdom that ruled the land in which he lived; he made a huge political impact by the way in which he lived, and loved, and was willing to suffer. THAT is how I think people of God's kingdom should be political in this election cycle. I think Luke 4.5-7 is fairly instructive here: When Jesus was offered all the kingdoms of the world, he chose to go the way of suffering love instead of taking that power. So I think political power is one of those temptations that baptized people simply have to learn to resist, in order to chose the way of cruciform living.
I realize that folks will tell me that "every vote matters", but I just have to smile when they do. That's because I think the way the followers of Jesus "vote" isn't by making a decision about some chosen politician every few years (politicians, by the way, who are already beholden to interests that seem to stand against everything that Jesus stands for -- that makes them yet another "spirit of antichrist", to quote 1 John).
The hope that I cling to has nothing to do with what any one election decides or doesn't decide. The hope that I have for the world isn't connected to an American political vote or party at all. My hope is in Jesus, before whom every knee will bow on heaven and earth. So I don't think my vote "matters" nearly as much as others think it matters. In fact, I think it really doesn't matter at all.
I think our duty as Christians, and therefore citizens of the kingdom of God, trumps whatever "civic duty" the culture wants to demand of me. Indeed, the kingdom of which I'm a part isn't of this world (John 18.36), so the civic virtues like voting just don't apply.
So when people ask me that question -- how do I think we Christians should vote in an election -- I always respond by saying: Think deeply about what it means to be a follower of Jesus and whether or not that means having an allegiance to any political power of this earth. Pray with brothers and sisters. Hear the stories of those who resist political powers in other places for the sake of God's kingdom. And ask yourself if voting in a ballot booth is really all that important. If it is, then by all means -- through the choices you make every day that are in obedience to Jesus Christ -- make a choice that reflects the sacrificial love of God in Jesus Christ. But if it's not (like it is for me), just let that day be another day on which you live in obedience to Jesus Christ, and let the powers and principalities of the day do their thing.
That, I think, is exactly what Jesus was getting at when he said, "Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, but to God the things that are God's".