Election Thoughts

There will be an election held next week.  You may have heard something about it.  I’ve said in the past that I’m not going to talk about politics, and I’ve explained why.  But today, I want to give you my predictions for the results of the election.

The morning after the election, the sun will rise in the east.  This may come as a surprise to some, who seem to believe that the world will come to an end if their side does not win.  It won’t.  Some candidates may be preferable to others, but neither is going to cause the end of the world.  That will happen when God decides it’s going to happen and not before.

The country will continue to have lots of problems.  That’s true no matter who wins.  We are electing a president, not a magician or a wizard.  No matter how well-intentioned the winner may be, and no matter how hard they might try, there is no magic formula for solving the problems facing the country.  These problems did not come about overnight, and they will not go away overnight.  And in fact, some of them will never be solved, at least not by humans, because they come from flaws that are deeply rooted in human nature.  We can make progress sometimes, but they will only be solved when God decides to step in and solve them.

My happiness will not be determined by who wins the election.  Yours should not be, either.  Yes, the government has a lot of power.  Yes, it can, to a certain extent, make things better or worse, easier or harder.  But if we are looking to the government to give us happiness, we are going to be disappointed.  The Declaration of Independence says we have the right to pursue happiness.  It does not guarantee that we will be happy.  The government cannot make us happy.  Happiness comes from inside of us.

Jesus will still be the Savior.  Too many people seem to think their salvation will come from Washington, D. C.  It won’t.  It never has.  It never will.  That’s true regardless of which party is in power.  Again, the government has a lot of power, but it does not have the power of salvation, whether we’re talking about earthly salvation or eternal salvation.  The President of the United States is not our Savior.  Neither is the Congress or the Supreme Court.  Salvation comes from faith in Jesus Christ.

God will still be in control.  It can be hard to believe that one.  We look around at all the things that are happening in the world, and it seems like nobody’s in control of anything.  We wonder, if God is in control, why is God allowing all these things to happen?  That’s where faith comes in.  In a recent sermon I talked about times when it looked like something terrible had happened, but eventually God brought something good out of it.  We never know what plans God may have, and we never know how things that appear terrible to us may be used by God for good in the end.  It can be hard to trust God that much, but I do believe that God remains in control, and will remain in control no matter who wins the election.  And in the end, God will win.

So, support your candidates.  Inform yourself and go vote.  But know that whatever happens, things will be okay in the end.  Presidents come and go.  God is eternal.