Beyond the Ballot Box

Tomorrow is Election Day – the end of the long campaign trail. One thing is for certain. In about 48 hours or less (barring another chad count) we will know who will lead our country for the next four years. We also know that roughly half the country will be very optimistic about our country’s prospects, while the other half will wonder with varying degrees of anxiety what the future holds.


As we are in this current series, “Shine”, we’re learning about Christians who lived in cultures where the right to vote would have been unthinkable. So as we go to the polls (everybody vote!) let’s keep their reality in mind. Commentator Sam Storms has written a wonderful devotional on Revelation 2 and 3, "To the One Who Conquers". Here’s some great perspective from Dr. Storms for the politics of our day.


“Make no mistake: I’m eternally grateful for the laws that safeguard our rights, and I consistently vote for those candidates who are social, fiscal, and moral conservatives. But have we come so to depend on such political blessings, economic liberties, and the legal protection Christianity enjoys that in their absence we fear the destruction of the church and the silencing of our witness?


The church in Ephesus, as with so many other congregations in the first century, knew nothing of a constitution, a first amendment, or a right to vote. Yet they survived, and thrived, in the midst of what strikes us as unimaginable state-sanctioned idolatry and immortality. Before we panic or lose heart at the state of our state, or the condition of our city, we would do well to remember the promise of Jesus: ‘I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’ (Matt. 16:18).” (p. 27)