It's about time

First of all, I want to apologize to the four people who read my blog...I'm still new to this blogging thing and haven't made it a regular part of my day yet..I'm working on it, I promise. I want this to be worth your while. Anyway, on to some content...

I had an absolutely wonderful, thoughtful response to my last blog. I was particularly enticed by his/her question: How does the power of the presidency (and any elected position for that matter) intersect with our striving to work with God in the redemption of all things? What is the role of the government (if any), and ours as citizens who vote, in making God's kingdom a reality? I think this is the question that we have to wrestle with. Recently, Shane Claiborne and Greg Boyd wrote a book called Jesus For President. The book rightly points out that as followers of Jesus our ultimate allegiance is to Jesus Christ regardless who the president or prime minister or dictator is or what form of government rules the land. It seems that the authors are encouraging followers of Jesus to work outside the political system to bring about the kind of change we are called to make. The point seems to be that it really does not matter who is in power - that does not change our job as Christians. Having said that, I truly believe that certain candidates and certain platforms are worth voting for. Although these candidates are not perfect and have to play the political game to get elected (which may or may not cause them to lose their soul in the process) I feel strongly that if they are promoting a better way of life for people with real needs and have a means to bring about real change for these people, then we would be foolish not to vote for them. God has often worked through kings and governments to serve his purposes and to make his kingdom a reality on earth. There's no such thing as a perfect candidate but I think we miss out on a God-given opportunity not to vote for the person that we feel most closely aligns with God's values. In that way, I believe the power of the presidency (or any other elected position) intersects with our striving to work with God in the redemption of all things. For instance, I believe that the poor, oppressed, sick and broken are at the top of God's priority list. If there is one candidate who will increase relief to AIDS victims in Africa and those who are in poverty all over the globe and one candidate who would decrease that spending but spend more on weapons and defense, I think we are working with God and with the president/government to use our resources wisely, restore our world and bring God's kingdom to the darkest corners of the globe by electing the candidate who aligns more closely with God's vision for the world. I believe God can and will work through any and all people. We have to be on the look out for what God is up to and jump on the opportunities that are before us. Personally, I think this election provides our nation with a very important opportunity. It will be very interesting to see how our country, and those who call themselves Christians, will respond.