Six Essentials To Remember Before You Cast Your Vote

1. Remember to vote on principles over personality

In the end, principles trump personality. The election isn’t a personality contest, rather it is a principle contest. Our motto as Christians should be, “He with the best principles wins.” Since we are Christians, we should vote for the person whose values best represent our Biblical convictions. Therefore, take the major issues and do your best to measure them against what the Scriptures teach. By doing this you can have confidence that you are seeking to honor God with your vote.


2. Remember that no one enters the voting booth alone.

Before you vote, ask HWJV? You might be thinking, “What are you talking about?” That’s a fair question. HWJV stands for, “How Would Jesus Vote?” We need to ask this question because when we go into the voting booth we don’t go alone. Rather, Jesus goes into the booth with us. He said, “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). This should really prick our conscious and make us want to vote in a way that pleases Him as our Savior. So we need to ask questions like: would Jesus vote for someone that is willing to abort babies that He as the Creator is shaping in the womb (see Psalm 139)? That is just one question, but you get the point! So let’s remember to take our values through the “Jesus Grid” because Jesus goes with us into the voting booth.


3. Remember that no matter who rules the earth God still rules the universe.

This principle is so encouraging because it reminds us that ultimately God is still in control. The Bible says, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; like channels of water He directs it wherever He wishes” (Prov. 21:1). We can take confidence in knowing that God will still accomplish His purposes on earth no matter who is in office. God will not be caught by surprise on voting day and He certainly will not throw His hands up in the air in defeat. Therefore, let us not be alarmists, but God glorifiers who praise His magnificent name because no matter what comes against us He is still in control. We can say with confidence: “Our God Reigns.”


4. Remember to enter the voting booth prayerfully and to pray for your leaders continuously.

Paul the apostle instructed young Timothy by writing, “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Savior” (1 Tim. 2:1-3). These verses are vitamin packed with spiritual nutrition. In three short verses we learn that God wants us praying for our leaders. We learn that our prayers are indeed effective and that praying helps us live “peaceful and quiet lives.”

5. Remember to pick up a voters guide so you are fully informed on the issues of the candidates that you know nothing about.

It’s easy to vote a straight ticket, but we may be voting for people out of assumption. It takes a little extra effort, but I would encourage you to pick up a voters guide to help fill in the gaps. I have been told that you can find these by Big Al’s and KW cafeteria on #73 near Jetton Road. By perusing through these we are able to cast a vote based on principal not partisan politics. Also, for you reading junkies: if you are looking for a few good resources to help you better understand voting, moral issues and the government I would encourage you to get:

-How Would Jesus Vote, by Dr. James D. Kennedy
-God and Government, by Chuck Colson
-Legislating Morality, by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek

And last, but not least, but the greatest…


6. Remember that as Christians, we can rejoice when we enter the voting booth because there is coming a day when Jesus will set up His kingdom and there will be no more need to vote (see Revelation 21:1-5).

I am so thankful that when I was nineteen years old by God’s grace He enabled me to vote for Jesus by asking Him to be the King and Ruler of my life. As Christians, Jesus is our Supreme Ruler and authority and our sole purpose in this life is to make much of Him. We are to declare His fame to all people for His glory. We are to be the most satisfied people on this planet because we know that Jesus has already been “elected” as King of the universe. So while you’re out on the campaign trail this voting season charging people to vote for an earthly ruler, let us not forget that there is something far more important than deciding who is going to rule the United States, but who will rule our hearts. Our greatest honor as Christians is we get to campaign for Jesus by calling a lost and broken world to a gracious and healing Savior. So tell the people to vote next week, but more importantly tell them to vote for Jesus.

Voting with you,

Bobby

A Christians Job Description: “He Must Increase”

Before I stand up to share God’s Word on Sunday mornings one verse I often find myself praying to God are the words John the Baptist uttered concerning Jesus when he said of Him, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). With one verse John the Baptist highlighted every Christian’s job description. God has given us a mission of making much of Jesus and less of ourselves. God designed each of us with one overarching purpose: to spread the fame of Jesus.

John the Baptist was a person whose heart was utterly and completely swollen for God’s glory. He was a champion for God’s majesty. Life for John wasn’t about John, but Jesus. No wonder Jesus said concerning him, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.” What a compliment. John the one who acknowledged Jesus as the greatest of all, received in turn the words from Jesus, “no one born greater than John.” John became the least in Jesus’ presence and Jesus saw that as greatness.

What would make Jesus say such a statement? I believe it was because John rightly saw himself in light of God. He knew he was nothing without God. Shockingly, John the Baptist would have a hard time finding a job in today’s local church. Why? Because he doesn’t fit the mold! He’s not professional enough. We want passion we say, “but keep it tamed.” We want the Word taught, “but keep it in a box.” John the Baptist was an out of the box kind of guy. He wasn’t neat and he certainly wasn’t worried about being PC. However, his heart burned for the glory of God. He had one white-hot passion and that was to point people toward King Jesus. He rejected typical man-centered living and became a God-centered, Spirit-filled preacher who rightly understood his job description: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Well said, John! Guess what? John’s job description is your job description and my job description. “To increase Jesus through our lives.” So the next time your tempted to think, “It’s all about me” remember that our true job description is boiled down into one simple phrase, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

"Lectio Divina"

Are you bored with reading your Bible? Do you find yourself reading it more out of duty than devotion? Is your study time a little rusty lately? It’s okay to say “yes” you’re not alone. In fact, I have been there myself and so has every other honest Christian. You know the routine don’t you? We loathingly rise up early in the morning after winning what Rick Warren calls, “the battle of the blankets” and off we go with our Bible in one hand and a hot cup of freshly brewed coffee in the other. Into a quiet room we go hoping to get spiritually fine-tuned and we get tuned alright, we get “tune-out!” The head starts nodding as we fight sleepiness, the yawning kicks in and before we know it we are either asleep on our Bibles or off to hit the day because we’ve been distracted once again.

Have you been there? Of course you have. Don’t worry, there’s a solution. It’s called, “lectio divina.” Inspired? Probably not, more than likely you’re scratching your head wondering to yourself, “What in the world is lectio divina?” It has to do with our approach to reading the Bible. It's a Latin phrase that simply means, “Divine Reading.” It’s what one person described as “the kind of reading in which the mind descends into the heart.” It’s reading the word in search of the WORD. It’s not only you going through the Bible, but it’s the Bible going through you. The Bible is an organism. It’s alive. It’s the only book that you read that reads you. While we search the Scriptures, the Scriptures search us. It’s not only reading the Bible for information, but transformation. It’s you getting inside the Bible so the Bible can get inside you.

Am I making sense?

While I was in seminary in Dallas Prof. Hendricks described “Lectio Divina” in a way that clicked. Though he didn’t use those words, he was on to something that he called “The 40/20 Principle.” He spoke about how we should read for forty minutes and reflect for twenty. If you read the Bible fifteen minutes per day than the 40/20 principle would mean you read for ten minutes and reflect for five. I like that! Read and reflect. The difference is you are prayerfully reading and reflecting in search of God verses passively reading in search of God knows what. You see I believe the missing link between merely study and sanctification is meditation. When we reflect and meditate over God’s Word we take it from our head to our heart. It’s how we move from information to integration, from frustration to jubilation. It’s the key to throwing JOY back into our devotional life.

In fact, I believe it is because of “lectio divina” that God called David, “A man after My own heart.” David was more than a warrior, he was also a worshipper. He was more than a man’s man, he was God’s man. He had both a brave heart and a broken heart. He was a man with an appetite: an appetite for God’s Word. In his famous Psalm 119 he wrote in verse 97, “Oh, how I love Your law! I meditate on it all day long.” What made David a man after God’s own heart? The missing link of meditation! He read for renewal, not ritual. He worshipped from a heart of purity, not piety. He wasn’t merely reading, he was “Divine Reading.” He was looking for God in the Scriptures, not a check box on his daily planner.

Want a white hot heart for God again? Want to sense the overwhelming power of His presence in your study? Want to feel His glow in your heart like you once did? Want to enjoy reading the Bible verses enduring it? Than “lectio divina” is your answer. Don’t just read; Divine Read. Here is a simple closing application: start your reading off next time with David’s prayer, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law” (Psalm 119:18) and you’ll find more than print on a page, but a Savior in your midst.

Till next time, bC

A Journey Towards Dependency

If someone was to ask you, “What is our greatest need in life” what would you say? Before you answer this question stop for a moment and ponder it. Okay, what did you come up with?

• A slimmer waistline?
• A new lipstick red 325 BMW?
• A six-digit income?
• Or for you techies, a new Mac-Air book?

Perhaps it’s no surprise that our culture will offer us the bait of power, prestige and possessions as our greatest human need. However, those pursuits lead to a dead end. They are empty, void and lifeless. Before I answer this question let me say that when we are unsure of our greatest need or fail to live in light of it we become restless spirits trying to find pleasure in the words of Blaise Pascal, by “licking at the earth.”

Since the genesis of time mankind has been on a vigorous quest to answer this question. The ancient sage king Solomon was a restless wanderer in search of meaning through the disparities of life. At the end of his search to discover his greatest need he perplexingly penned the words, “So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after the wind.” You can still feel the sting of those ink written words as he desperately shares the depression that branded his heart and soul.

So are you ready for the answer to this question? It’s costly. Okay, here it is: our greatest need is to worship God through living a God-dependant life. That’s not easy in a culture that prides itself on being independent. Frank Sinatra’s famous song, “I did it my way” could be the new American motto. Forget the old and true motto E pluribus unum, “one out of the many” in speaking of the dream of the United States.

Since the beginning of time people have sought to do things their own way and the results have been devastating. The difference between living independent and dependant is chillingly clear from Scripture. From Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden, to the construction of the Tower of Babel, to Jonah running from the call of God on his life we discover one clear truth: we aren’t meant to live apart from God.

The result of the independent life is paved with consequences and creates in us a restless heart! Nothing creates more unrest than trying to live detached from our Creator. I have personally known this restlessness in my own life, but lest I bore you with musings from my own restless heart let me share with you a life changing quote from Augustine, the great theologian of the past who gave birth to words that have echoed throughout the generations and still ring true in our hearts today. He said in his Confessions, “Thou has formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” We don’t find rest in God until we first learn to depend on God. Are you tired of being anxious, worried, fearful and restless? If so, I highly recommend God’s antidote to a restless heart: It’s called “dependency!” Just as the eye is useless in and of itself, it needs natural light to complete its ability to see. So too, we as humans need God to be fulfilled and complete. Jesus said, “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will bear much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” Jesus taught us in those simple choice words that the independent life is a fruitless life. This was His clarion call to a life of dependency, more than that to a fruit bearing life. So lean into God today. Rest in Him. That is our greatest need. It is our act of worship. And remember learning dependency is a journey, not a destination. Join me in the journey.

Till next time, bC