As election day advances ever rapidly toward us, the noise of the world around us heightens to a cacophony of polarized opinions used as weapons toward our fellow humans. We find ourselves drawn to the chaos and feel we must join in the rhetoric of these far-reaching stances. The culture around us has taught us that we must take sides to be American, that our vote is undoubtedly part of our identity, and that freedom looks like the government allowing us its privilege. 

But our freedom does not come from the government we are born or choose to live under. Our freedom comes from the sacrificial death of a man that did not deserve it, in the place of our own deserving fate. 

We must remember that the same “religious freedom” that we so deeply cling to as Christians in the United States also allows others to practice their religions or to practice none. We cannot continue to label the United States a “Christian Nation” when its people, ourselves included, so clearly alienate human lives that were created by God in His image. We do ourselves a disservice in this thinking because it allows us to try to force unbelievers into Christian ways of living that can only come after hearts have been changed by the powerful message of the Gospel. 

We must not fear any political party’s or politician’s election when we are faced with the results. To live in fear of anything or anyone other than God, our Creator, is to undermine His sovereign power and infinite wisdom. So, whether or not your preferred candidate is elected, as Christians, we must remember who we serve and who alone has the power to change hearts, people, lives, and nations. We are electing broken people who struggle with sin, just like you and me.

Instead, it is with Christ, God’s Word made flesh, that we go into a broken world to set right what has been destroyed. We must not believe that an elected official will be the true change we wish to see in our communities. Instead, we must vote with consideration for our neighbor, for the vulnerable, for those whose privilege has been stifled under corrupt men, and for the good of our nation as a whole – both our brothers and sisters in Christ AND those who do not yet know His grace and mercy. And after we vote, we must march with the light of Christ into our homes, workplaces, neighborhoods, grocery stores, schools, and every place we go to bring the healing power of the death and resurrection of Jesus into each and every heart, soul, and mind.