Never Partisan
I’m not writing to convince you to vote for Joe Biden, Donald Trump, or a third-party candidate. Even if I wanted to it’s a bit late for such persuasion. You have your reasons for the way you are voting; before God we should all be trying to do the best we can in bearing this burden of democracy.
A funny thing can happen once we cast our ballot and the election is decided. Whereas we previously may have admitted faults in our candidate, in the instance that he/she wins we often transform into volunteer press secretaries. Every personal flaw, every bad policy, we feel beholden to spin, to justify, because we voted for this person. My President can’t be wrong.
Why not?
Of course, it is understandable. We want to distance ourselves from having our hand in anything that is bad. We don’t want to feel like we’re in any way to blame. The easiest thing to do is to claim that your presidential pick is blameless. But we all know it’s not true. Even the best candidates two years into the job will make a mistake worthy of criticism. Why should we pretend it’s otherwise, as though we could possibly have a perfect president? (I’ll stick with the Messiah, thank you very much)
No, we should go into this process with eyes wide open and make it to November 4th with them still wide open. We run a serious danger when we close our minds and blindly pledge to support and defend our presidential pick regardless of his or her actions. We risk situating ourselves right alongside the ancient people of Judah, whom God excoriated through the prophet Isaiah when He said to them:
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20 [ESV]
Isn’t this what so much of partisan politics is about? It’s on all sides! We close our eyes to obvious evil, or even justify it, because we don’t want “our side” to lose. Here’s a newsflash: God never closes his eyes to evil, including the evil of you closing yours. When God’s people did that, He brought judgment against them: “Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them.” [Isaiah 5:25 ESV]
As you vote today, don’t also vow yourself a partisan. Be just as ready to call out evil and injustice on the part of your presidential pick (if he/she wins) as you would if another candidate won. Heed the words of Paul when he says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” [Rom 12:2 ESV]
America doesn’t need more partisans. America needs Christians who will not conform, who will discern what is good and pleasing to God, who will not stay silent.