How Should I Vote?

Have you decided who to vote for? What should be your guide as to how you’ll vote?

The Right to Vote

If you don’t vote because you’re not happy with the choices of political candidates you have, you are simply letting others make that decision for you. It does seem that you may have to choose between “the lesser of two evils” but we must still choose or let someone choose for us. We have every right to exercise our right to vote but the question is, if someone doesn’t vote at all, do they have the right to complain about who’s in office since they did nothing to prevent it? Since they didn’t vote at all, they are in no position to argue with whoever’s been voted into office. There is so much political apathy today because of the way the system seems to be rigged and it’s not always the best person who gets to run for office…it’s the person with the most power and the most money. Sadly, that doesn’t work out well in most cases.

Your Conscious

We should vote what our conscious tells us to vote for. For example, I am prolife and I believe in choosing a candidate who will support the right for the unborn to live. I believe the economy, unemployment, and other issues that the candidates toss around are far less important than someone’s right to be born. Since Roe v Wade in 1973, over 65 million babies have been murdered and the numbers continue to swell every day. If the preservation of life is important to you, then vote your conscience and choose the candidate that is more likely to fight for the unborn who cannot fight for themselves.

Rendering unto Caesar

The Apostle Paul tells us that God expects us to “Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed” (Rom 13:7) and even though most of the candidates today appear to be less than honorable, we should still exercise our right to vote, even if it seems that’ll make no difference at all. We should give to the government what their due is, but what is God’s should be given to Him. Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17) and the things of Caesar are those things having to do with the government but those things having to do with God may involve choices that we make in relation to our government.

Praying for Leadership

One of the most difficult things to do is to pray for leaders who are corrupt but the Apostle Paul tells us “that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1st Tim 2:1-2) because “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior” (1st Tim 2:3). “When the righteous triumph, there is great glory, but when the wicked rise, people hide themselves” (Prov 28:12) and “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Prov 14:34).

Conclusion

Christians in America have greater rights than many citizens of the world have because they can actually vote for someone that they support. Even though it does seem that we must choose between the lesser of the two bad choices we have, at least we do have a choice. The Bible teaches that “When the righteous triumph, there is great glory, but when the wicked rise, people hide themselves” (Prov 28:12) and it seems that there is no shortage of wicked leaders today who are only in it for their own self-interests and not the interests of their constituents. Regardless of that fact, we should vote for those candidates who are closest to our own set of values and principles and for the Christian that means whichever candidate reflects the most godly values and beliefs is the candidate that we should choose.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.