Taking Care of Business

I know I’m a day early this week, but I feel so pressed to get this one out I decided to jump the gun by a day.

Any of you that know me personally know that I’m a very politically leaning person.  If I’d stayed in college I probably would’ve majored in Political Science; and, at one point in my life thought about pursuing becoming a lobbyist.  I started voting as soon as I was legally old enough to do so – 60 years ago.  I have never missed voting in a national election & there are very few other elections I haven’t voted in in all those years.  I’m serious about having my voice heard when it comes to my city, my state & my nation – as I believe we all should be – especially Christians.  I believe as citizens of the USA it is our obligation & our responsibility to vote.  Before I vote, I do research on candidates to determine who stands on the side of the issues that are important to me – consequently, I’ve voted for Republicans, Democrats & Independents at different points in my life. 

I’ve tried to stay away from blatant political issues with my blog, because politics are so personal & everyone is certainly entitled to their own opinion about who they want running this country.  Since politics can be very divisive & I didn’t ever want anyone to disregard my weekly ideas & thoughts written here because they were turned off as a result of politics.

Basically, I am going to stick to that general concept – I’m not going to discuss a particular political party nor am I going to talk about any candidates.  However, unless you’ve been living alone in a cave for a very long time, you know that 24 days from today, we will be having a national election.  We will be electing a new President along with a number of other national offices & some locals as well.  So, when I read something this morning that was so very disturbing to me, I just felt like I must share it with you here.  I hope you’ll bear with me.

I receive a daily email from The Texas Minute (presented by Texas Scorecard.)  Their byline is “Real News For Real Texans” & on their website it says this:

“Texas Scorecard is:

*Never personal

*Always trustworthy, with the facts in context

*Relentlessly pro-citizen, unabashedly pro-liberty

*Pursuing our heritage of self-governance

*Inspiring, without venting”

Michael Quinn Sullivan is the publisher of this online publication.  He is a Christian & a political activist.  I’ve never read one of his editorials that he occasionally shares that I didn’t agree with & the one he presented this morning is no different.  I’m going to share with you now because I believe it is just that important.  

Friday Reflection

Wicked and Slothful

by Michael Quinn

“Just three weeks out from the 2024 General Election, 41 million Christians say they aren’t voting. They say they don’t like their options, which might be the most intellectually lazy thing someone can assert in our self-governing republic.

As I read this study from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, the parable of the talents from Matthew’s gospel came to mind. In it, Jesus told His disciples the story of a wealthy man who entrusted his servants with large sums of money to oversee during his absence. One servant received the equivalent of 80 years’ worth of earnings, while another 32 years’ worth. A third received 16 years’ worth of earnings.

The first two essentially doubled what they had been given. The third didn’t like his choices, so he buried the money in the ground, not even bothering to put it with a banker. He said he did so because he was scared of his master.

His excuses were a cop-out. He thought that by doing nothing, he would avoid responsibility. For his cowardice, the servant was called ‘wicked and slothful.’

That’s how millions of Christians appear to be treating this election. They mumble self-righteous pieties about the choices—implying themselves to be the standard bearers of civic and personal morality.

They seem to think they can stand before God and smugly say, ‘I know you put me in this self-governing republic, but I could not lower myself to do my duty, so you cannot be angry with me because none of the candidates on the ballot met my standards.’

Is that the standard these Americans want to have applied to them? Is that the standard they hope God employs as He elects us for eternal life? I know how poorly I compare to God’s standards; I’m personally counting on His mercy through Christ!

I often hear people say that they hate choosing between ‘the lesser of two evils’ in our elections. It is like they just emerged from a state of bliss on planet Earth! We live in a fallen world. All of us fall short of the glory of God; some more spectacularly than others perhaps. But that’s a bit like comparing the stench in various sections of the city sewer.

In the real world, God calls us to be shrewd. We must make choices between what is actually in front of us. I would like to have filet mignon for lunch every day, but the budget says my choices range from chicken salad to PB&J. I guess I could just go hungry, but I choose sustenance over starvation.

The great irony is that by choosing not to vote in the election—for whatever ‘righteous’ reason—the 41 million Christians are, in fact, casting a vote. They are choosing to let other, less biblically shrewd individuals make the governing decisions for them.

By refusing to consider the nuanced positions of candidates and the relative real-world good and harm each would bring, these Christians are letting those guided by destructive ideologies and even worse theologies pick a dangerous path for our republic. Wicked and slothful, indeed.

We were blessed to be given a self-governing republic. By hiding from the responsibilities of citizenship, some Christians are preparing to embrace an unbiblical foolishness.

Rather than hide from the hard choices, we have a responsibility to faithfully engage the world as it is. And, yes, that means—as Christian citizens in this republic—participating in the elections.”

Does the fact that 41 million Christians are not going to participate in our national elections bother anyone else besides me?  I watched an interesting video the other night by a pastor from here in the DFW area – Josh Howerton.  One of the last things he said was this: “30 million Bible-believing Christians didn’t vote in the last Presidential election.  An election decided by a strategically placed 42,000 votes.”  That was alarming enough for me to hear, but then to read in the above article this morning that it appears 41 million Christians don’t plan to vote this year?  WOW!  

Remember, this isn’t a personality contest – you don’t have to like the personality of an elected official.  None of them will be perfect, none of them will be everything we want them to be, none of them will make every single decision the way we’d prefer.  BUT who will be the most likely to get the job done upholding Judeo-Christian ideology the best?  That’s who we need to consider supporting.  As Christians, it’s time we step up to the plate & start taking care of business – fulfilling our responsibilities to make sure that our standards & morals are being represented as much as possible.

So please!  If you were considering sitting out this election, PLEASE reconsider & vote.  If you know of someone else that is considering sitting out this election, PLEASE try to reason with them to vote.  Indifference is harmful so we need to do what is good & right.  One article I looked at pointed out some examples of evil that prevailed because of inaction – such as the Holocaust, the Rwandan Genocide & current injustices & human rights issues such as human trafficking, organ harvesting & blatant oppression of civil rights.  They say that in 2018 there were 40.3 million people living in modern slavery – how many more are there now in 2024?  

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”  (Quote from Edmund Burke)  And even better than that is what God’s Word says on the subject:  “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.”  (James 4:17 NLT)

Now one last thing – I mentioned that I listened to a video by Pastor Josh Howerton a few days ago.  He preaches a very honest & direct sermon dealing with some of these issues & if you’d like to listen to it, here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SitsLDo6X_Y

God bless you & let’s start taking care of business, because if you don’t participate in the election, you have no right to complain about anything that happens as a result!

Written by Karran Martin – October 11, 2024

[All bold emphasis is mine]