As the election approaches, I need to remind us of what I wrote back in October 2020, before the last presidential election.
Wesley’s rules for voting, Bob’s paraphrase:
- Vote for the person you judge most worthy.
- Do not run down the other candidate.
- Do not run down the guy who voted for the other candidate.
Simple to write, hard to do, especially when believers on both sides tell you that you can’t be a believer if you’re not voting the way they think you should. I wrote about this phenomenon in Following Jesus?, written January 2020. I concluded that blog this way:
Maybe we should all spend more time following Jesus than trying to decide if the other guy is following Jesus.
So tend to your knitting. You’ve got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God. (Romans 14.12, MSG)
When Peter saw [John], he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” (John 21.21, 22, ESV, emphasis mine, different context, same principle)
Re the election, vote, but remember:
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. (Romans 13.1, ESV)