I’m not going to mention either candidate by name or refer to them in any way. I have no intention of swaying your vote. I hope you have already voted. With that out of the way, lets talk about choice.
In all honesty, I hope the image above is what the polls would reflect after all ballots are counted. I’m not suggesting any third party candidate or write in either. Its just that we are lead to believe that we don’t have a choice when only given two options in our election process.
All sides are fear mongering to make us believe the least of the evils are mandatory. And what we will shortly see is that millions of people will go out and make their mark on the closest option available to them. And they will honestly believe they had no choice.
Fear is powerful. Lets remember where that comes from. Fear comes from a lack of trust in our Savior.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go – Joshua 1:9
So my first suggestion is that we put our eyes on Jesus and let the fear of limited choices subside. My second suggestion is that we narrow our choices to just 1. Jesus. Its amazing how our hearts and minds open up in freedom, safety, and love when we focus on the Lord.
With the election still in mind, lets take a quick look at what the enemy does. (And I’m talking about the real enemy, not the opponent of choice 😛 )
First we ask questions as doubt sets in. What will happen if I don’t support this? Its not what I want, but its the best of what’s left. Fear replaces doubt. We believe we don’t have a choice. Before we know it, we are choosing, not what our hearts want, but what our emotions are telling us we can’t endure. And at best, its all the result of lies told by the enemy and calculations based on rumors and theory.
This same tactic is used outside of elections. Today, churches are rewriting God’s word because they fear what will happen if they don’t mimic society.
People are getting married to the wrong person, or divorcing the right one because of their fears and doubts.
People are taking their own lives because they have bought the lies. And please understand, people that commit suicide don’t feel like they have zero options, they consider suicide to be one of them. Do I keep living a horrible life or do I end it? Two choices. And just like the banner above, people feel like that is all they have. Its the ballot presented to them. Do you take bad choice A or bad choice B? And we can and will debate which one is worse until the cows come home. This is division and its a fantastic side effect of the real enemies plan.
First he gets us to narrow down our belief systems to HIS perversion of the truth, and then he divides us over the horrible options.
God wants us to start voting like my results are above. Zero’s are what He wants to see for all of the bad options out there. What we tend to forget, is that its the same enemy on both sides. And that works in politics as well as throughout life. We need to vote like Monty Brewster in Brewster’s Millions. He voted “none of the above”. We live in a dark time where the freedom of the cross does not have the light it deserves. Jesus set us free. We are free from catch 22 options.
Jesus gave us the bravery and the integrity to post up goose eggs on the devil’s scorecards. When your choices boil down to a miserable life or suicide… choose Jesus. Get some help. Ask the church. Seek counselors. Lean on friends and family if possible. There are other options. Just because they aren’t on the rigged ballot doesn’t mean we can’t use them. Pray. Live in spite for a while if you have to, but live because you know you have the option to. And know that life has valleys that lead to wonderful mountaintop experiences that are worth the pain.
When the choice of gossip or exclusion from the pack faces you down. Crumple up the ballot and throw it out. Its a sham. You have more choices than that.
What if we stopped casting positive reinforcement for things we don’t believe in and started living life like we have been blessed with option 3? And that option is grace, love, forgiveness, and a Savior that wants us to be with Him. Again, this isn’t a 3rd party plug. You should have already voted. This is a third option in life that I’m presenting to you. It’s option C when both A and B are coercive, heavy handed, and seek to draw you out of your Christian habitat.
But I sure do like how that banner looks. Zero. It’s what Jesus gave to the pharisees of His time. They crammed limited options down the throats of often oppressed Christians. Jesus took one look at their menu and warned everyone to order from someone else. What they were selling was watered down, hand picked, self serving doctrine that benefited themselves. And while they claimed you had no choice, Jesus gave them one.
Forget about the elections. Its all done now. What will you CHOOSE to do next? What choice will give God glory? What limited ballots are staring you down, causing stress, or sleepless nights? Its time for the write in. Its time for the eraser. Its time you tear that ballot up and make pure choices that glorify God in your life. No exceptions. No shortcuts. No least evils.
My Companion 