In God We Trust

By now we have all gone to the polls and the election is over. I write this in anticipation of the results. It is wonderful that we live in a country where our voice can be heard and where we are free to go to the polls and vote our conscience.

The votes are cast and we have elected new officials and voted on propositions that will affect our lives perhaps for generations to come. Whatever the outcome, we will get what we deserve. Which begs the question, what do we deserve? What have we become as a nation?

In my lifetime I have seen many changes that have produced mixed results. I remember as a child men holding open the doors for women and saying “maam” as they passed through. I remember TV programs like “Lassie” and “Leave it to Beaver”. Never was there a hint of overt sexuality in these programs, let alone the bawdy sexuality that we see on shows today like “Sex in the City” and “Desperate Housewives”. Blood didn’t splatter on the screen when we watched “The Lone Ranger” and the perverted mind of a child molester wasn’t explored on “Dragnet”. Were we sheltered from the evil that obviously existed, or did we choose to focus on the good and not the evil? I think the latter.

Today we have become a cynical society always expecting the worst and tearing apart anyone that tries to do good. We don’t portray any true heroes in movies or television; they are always flawed anti-heroes that somehow do what’s right in spite of their corrupted nature. It may be closer to reality, but it certainly doesn’t give us anything to shoot for. If the best of us is terribly flawed what can be expected for the rest of us?

I believe that our culture has become more debased over the last 50 years because of this systematic tearing down of virtue and moral values. And the last nail in the coffin is that we as a nation have lost our faith in God. The only hope we as sinful people have is that through our faith in God we could aspire to do “Godly” things. It wasn’t about our righteousness, but about God’s righteousness and His work in our lives. Without God, we truly don’t have any hope. Man left to his own devices is hopelessly debased and thus the expectations have been lowered commensurately.

So what does this have to do with the election? It is time that we put our faith back in God and take our eyes off of men. Whoever is elected they are not going to be our savior. We do, however, have instructions from God concerning what we need to do. In 1 Timothy 2 we are instructed to “pray for kings and others in power, so that we may live quiet and peaceful lives as we worship and honor God. This kind of prayer is good and it pleases God our savior”. You may not be happy with the outcome of the election, or you may be overjoyed. It doesn’t matter. It pleases God that we pray for those in authority over us. It also might be helpful to know that at the time this was written Cesar Nero was in power and he enjoyed lighting Christians on fire on posts to illuminate the path for his chariots. The passage in 1 Timothy 2 goes on to explain what the purpose of this is “God wants everyone to be saved and to know the whole truth which is, there is only one God and Christ Jesus is the only one who can bring us to God”. For Christians this is not an option, it is a command. I pray that God will bless those in authority over us and that we would humble ourselves before God and honor him.