Does God Call Me to Vote?
The elections are upon us. Politicians are intensifying their campaigns for a final push for votes. What are your thoughts about voting? On the one hand, the ability to vote in our democracy was won by the sacrifice of many. To vote is to exercise a great privilege in our freedom. Though, on the other hand, it is a privilege that can be easily taken for granted. In the election of 2016, about 43% of eligible voters (100 million) did not vote. Among the many possible reasons for this is the common rumination: What good is a single vote? It is a drop of water only to disappear in the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean. So is there a call for Christians to vote? David Platt addresses this question in the first chapter of his book, Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask. Let me offer a brief summary.
Platt begins by orienting our understanding of governance with God at the center. He is the Creator who sovereignly rules over all. Therefore, ultimate reality does not consist of a democracy but of a monarchy. God rules supremely. All people are subject to Him. And in God’s sovereign design He entrusted people to govern His creation (Gen. 1:27-28). Even with Adam and Eve’s sin at the beginning, God in His grace continues to use people to govern thereby laying a framework of justice observed through the narrative of Scripture (Gen. 9; Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17). Platt defines the standard of justice as “that which is right for all people as exemplified in the character of God and expressed in the Word of God” (Jer. 22:3, 29:7; Micah 6:8) is summarized in the two greatest commandments- love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30-31). This leads to two fundamental statements:
Government is God-ordained institution for the purpose of promoting good and restraining evil.
Followers of Jesus should be submissive citizens of government with ultimate allegiance to God.
Believers who live in the representative democracy of America find themselves in a unique position. We are not merely governed but govern. We participate in the government of the people, by the people and for the people. Well, how do we participate? We do so by our vote. So while there is no direct command from Scripture for believers to vote, there are indirect implications for believers to steward our vote for the sake of God honoring governance. This does not mean that it is a sin not to vote. One could make a prayerful, intentional decision to not vote. Though please note how this does not result from apathy or ignoring our place of influence in the system of representative democracy that we have in America. Platt writes:
“ In the end, what’s most important, and what I am definitively advocating for based on God’s Word, is the realization that how we use our vote is a matter of faithfulness before God. For our vote is a unique privilege and responsibility that God has entrusted to us by his grace, and God calls us to use every means of grace he grants us to love him above all and love our neighbors as ourselves.”
I pray that we will steward our vote for the glory of God. Amen.