Dear Trekker,
Since beginning to write a monthly newsletter in 2005, on three occasions I have found myself writing a few days before the national elections of 2008, 2012 and 2016. (See our website – menpassingthebaton.com) “Criteria to Consider in the Voting Booth” in 2008 reveals one elder’s guidance for what the voter should consider as he/she exercises the right and obligation to vote in a democratic republic such as our USA. One paragraph in 2008 seems timeless: “In an election, issues are important but no single issue ever supersedes the character of the nominee. Some pretty good guidance was given by Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, centuries ago: “men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain.” Only trustworthy and capable men (or women) can carry out workable and practical solutions for governing ourselves. And he or she who cannot govern themselves and their own selfish ambitions can surely not govern others successfully. Character counts!”
In this year of 2020, indeed character counts! As always, both candidates are flawed (as we all are). Hopefully, whichever nominee wins, love of country will win over flawed candidates!
In 2012, I wrote, “there will be ‘winners and losers’ depending upon which candidate or party prevails in the November election. We are called to not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. I believe we grieve the Spirit when our gloating, our incriminations, our bombasity and our ruthlessness in triumph turn others off, not on. Christians in this and all elections, regardless of who wins, have much more to lose if we are not careful to be magnanimous in victory and still confident because of Him in defeat.” Yes, 2012 seems like 2020: “Unfortunately there will be much “brawling and slander.” I wrote too…“How can we hate people or candidates?” Do people in 2020 hate a candidate more than they love their country, “one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all?” Election dynamics cause one to ponder. Our freedom as a country is always at stake.
In October 2016, I wrote: “Agape love is no small thing. It is our faith. Such faith should permeate all we do.” Bottom line – How do we enter the so-called voting booth. I hope it is with a gracious spirit of agape love for our fellow man.
But all elections come and go. Our country will survive for a period of time, as God wills. Our fathers brought forth a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal! How we build on that foundation, the fate of our nation is tied!
So is this, in 2020, the election that really counts? All elections count, don’t they? Indeed they do! A nation must be governed with law, order, justice, mercy and forgiveness or its lifespan may be short. But as individual trekkers with forever life ahead, the United States of America is not the Holy Grail of our futures, or that of our children’s children.
What is the election that counts? Last month I wrote on God’s inspired and inspiring love story. In a way, this MEN is not about the current election a few days hence. Rather, it is our election to tell, or not, the love story of God. Do we love to tell the love story of God, of Jesus and His love? We elect to do so. We vote intentionally to do so. And a positive vote in this election makes all of us winners…no one ever loses!
The words of St. Paul to the Corinthians (Chapter 13) are timeless; “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogantor rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends, love simply knows no limits; love is boundless!”
So what is the election in which we invest our lives to carry out God’s love story? The Spirit brings to mind a number of things. My list by no means is exhaustive, but a starting point for every trekker:
- Follow Jesus! Do as he did. He was consumed with doing the will of the Father. He revealed the love of the Father (John 3:16). Should we not be like Jesus? “Follow me,” he said and, “I will make you fishers of men.” True today, I believe. His challenge is timeless (Matthew 4:19).
- Remember, you/we are a part of the Body of Christ. Every element (person) of the Body must be working properly for the love story to be carved out today. (Trekker Ephesians 4 is a powerful chapter. Read it regularly.) God uses us as individual components of the Church. He has prepared good works for each of us in advance that we can walk in (Ephesians 2:10).
- Because God has prepared “good works for us to do,” we should be on the lookout to discover them and do them by His grace and power. In the Body of Christ, no man is an island, an entity unto himself. We should keep our eyes, ears, heart and hands open to serve the King of kings as he unfolds his redemptive love story.
- “Sharing the Good News” is a lifestyle, not a performance. We are always engaged in loving, sharing, forgiving, encouraging and lifting up Jesus alone.
- Make disciples! Paul said to the Corinthians: Follow me as I follow Christ (I Corinthians 11:1).
- Wherever the Lord is leading you, trust him with that! The God who calls us to “come and follow Him” always supplies our needs. Over the years, I personally have seen this to be true in scores of young people for which I have been the Spirit’s recruiter into ministry.
- Remember, obedience (follow- through), is always key! “Trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus” is the mantra.
- Live out John 15! The key is to abide (live) in Him! Trekker, He must be our all in all! As you may recall, my life verses are John 15:4-5. “Remain (live) in me and I will remain (live) in you. No branch (me) can bear fruit by itself; it must remain (live) in the vine. Neither can you (me) bear fruit unless you remain (live) in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man (me) remains in Him, and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Humbling indeed to know that apart from Him we can do nothing!
Trekker, our election to participate in “thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven” has amazing results. Jesus’s words in Matthew 24:14 are enlightening: “And this Gospel will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come!” God is counting on us! Let’s not let Him down in the election which defines eternity.
Your friend,
Jim Meredith
