By: Dale Weckbacher
Romans 3:23
for all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God,
NKJV
In our world, we seem to be on a quest for perfection. We want the perfect home, car,
relationship. In elections, we seek the
perfect candidate, the one that agrees with everything we believe in and the
one having all the answers.
Unfortunately, as Romans 3:23 reminds us, perfection in people is
impossible for with the exception of Jesus Christ, we all have imperfections.
This does not mean that as Christians we are not to strive
for perfection in our relationship with God but we must also realize that even
though we are saved and have eternal life, we live in fleshly bodies. The Apostle Paul spoke of this conflict in
Romans 7:16-20. It is therefore
unrealistic for us even as Christians to expect that once we receive Christ we
somehow become perfect for striving for perfection is a process, a process that
will only be completed in us when we receive our spiritual bodies in heaven
that do not contain the hindrances of our fleshly bodies.
Last week the first person officially announced their
candidacy for President with Ted Cruz announcing his intention to run for
President. (1) In the speech launching his campaign, Senator
Cruz made the alarming revelation that roughly half of born-again Christians
are not voting. (2) Granted, simply convincing these voters to
turn out may not be enough to win the nomination or election for Senator Cruz,
but it does present an enormous challenge to those of us interested in
returning the country to the Christian values it was founded upon based on the
founding documents.
Much of the reason for evangelical apathy when it comes to
the electoral process stems from an expectation of being able to find the
perfect candidate. When this quest
proves futile, many simply stay home. It
is therefore not surprising that we have leaders supporting the ungodly values
of gay marriage or abortion. In essence,
the non-vote of evangelicals deciding to stay home is a vote for these ungodly
values. We must ask ourselves, is this
what Jesus would do.
I think not for Jesus, the Son of God could have seen all of
our imperfections and decided to remain in Heaven with his Father. Fortunately, for us, Jesus chose to live
with us imperfect humans and die for our sins.
Jesus overlooked our imperfections and shed his blood for all of our
sins. I therefore believe that if Jesus
lived among us and was able to vote, he would show up at the poles voting for
the best candidate. In other words,
Jesus would not demand perfection in candidates for office.
Jesus does not look at the outward appearance but the hearts
of men and women. We too need to learn
to look beyond the imperfections of candidates for office and instead look at
their values, something many failed to do with candidate Obama. If we have learned anything from the failed
presidency of Barak Obama, it should be that what is in the heart of a leader
determines how that leader will govern.
I therefore want to join Ted Cruz in urging evangelical
Christians to turn out at the poles. We
must understand that there are no perfect candidates (3)
and instead of seeking perfection in candidates, we must dig deep and seek what
is in their hearts by,
1)
Paying attention to the candidates associations
– President Obama had many questionable associations that voters ignored during
his campaigns. (4) Looking back at these associations now
reveals the heart of a man with a community organizers vision of fundamentally
transforming the nation by unmooring it from its Constitutional foundation and
replacing it with a European style socialist republic. Let us not make that mistake again by paying
special attention to the associations of candidates.
2)
Paying attention to the candidate’s activities –
State Senator Obama actually voted for legislation supporting the killing of
fetuses aborted through partial birth abortion citing “There wasn’t any
question about what was happening. The
abortions were going wrong. The babies
weren’t cooperating. They wouldn’t die as
planned.” (5) Unfortunately, the media with only one goal
in mind, the election of the nation’s first African-American President, failed
to reveal this fact and with many evangelicals deciding not to engage in the
electoral process, the nation elected a leader with this in his heart. Let us not make that mistake again by paying
special attention to the voting records and activities of candidates.
3)
Paying attention to the theology and teachings
of the church the candidate attends – Candidate Obama attended the church of Jeremiah
Wright, a church founded on Black Liberation Theology, a theology filtering
scripture through the filter of race. (6) Any theology filtering scripture through
anything other than the interpretation of the Holy Spirit is something any
believer should question. If voters had
paid closer attention to the theology of the church candidate Obama attended,
they would have discovered Obama’s heart contained racial tendencies against
whites and Jews. The religious theology
that someone is taught under has a transformational effect on his or her heart
and is something we must pay close attention to, especially for someone running
for President of the United States.
Even though we are not God and cannot see into the hearts of
others, we can pay attention to their associations, activities, and the
theology, providing us a glimpse into their hearts. I therefore urge my fellow evangelicals to
engage in the electoral process and make an effort to catch a glimpse into the
hearts of the candidates. We do not need
a perfect candidate but a leader like King David who though imperfect, had a
heart after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22).
1. Cook, Lindsey. Ted Cruz Officially Announces
Presidential Run. www.usnews.com. [Online] U.S. News, March 23, 2015.
[Cited: March 28, 2015.]
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/03/23/ted-cruz-officially-announces-presidential-run.
2. Woods, Mark.
Ted Cruz appeals to evangelicals in campaign launch – but they may not be
enough to get him elected. www,christianitytoday.com. [Online]
Christianity Today, March 24, 2015. [Cited: March 28, 2015.]
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/ted.cruz.appeals.to.evangelicals.in.campaign.launch.but.they.may.not.be.enough.to.get.him.elected/50645.htm.
3. Rubin, Jennifer.
No perfect candidates. www.washingtonpost.com. [Online] The Washington
Post, January 2, 2014. [Cited: March 28, 2015.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2014/01/02/no-perfect-candidates/.
4. The Washington
Times. Obama’s associations may haunt bid. www.washingtontimes.com. [Online]
The Washington Times, June 8, 2008. [Cited: March 28, 2015.]
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jun/08/obamas-associations-may-haunt-bid/?page=all.
5. McCarthy, Andrew
C. When Obama Voted for Infanticide. www.nationalreview.com. [Online]
National Review, February 9, 2012. [Cited: March 28, 2015.] http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/290707/when-obama-voted-infanticide-andrew-c-mccarthy.
6. Barber, La Shawn.
What’s Wrong with Black Theology? . www.equip.org. [Online] CRI. [Cited:
March 28, 2015.] http://www.equip.org/article/whats-wrong-with-black-theology/#christian-books-2.
No comments:
Post a Comment