Election Day

Well, today in many states it is "Election Day." Here in California we are
having our "Primary Election," which chooses which of the many candidates
will be considered for office in the final election in November. My wife and
I always vote and encourage everyone we can to get out and vote. If you
don't vote, don't let me hear you complain, because you threw away your
opportunity to choose.

The word "Election" is defined by Webster as, "the right, power, or
privilege of making a choice." In reality, there are so many people running
for the many offices that you really do need a score card, to keep up with
who has done what or promised to do what. It's amazing what you can learn
about these people from the Internet, if you have the time to do the
research.

It's easy to look at people running for political office and think to
ourselves, that we could do a much better job, or that our lives are much
more honest or moral than what we see of them. I wonder however how much
different we look in God's eyes?

We forget, far too easily, that to God all sin is equally bad. The sins we
categorize as either big or little, equally condemn us to hell (eternal
separation from God). The thing about sin is that some sins are just more
easily seen than others, or have a cultural taboo that makes one seem worse
than another. I'm not saying that in our human eyes some sins (law breaking)
are not worse than others and need harsher punishment, I believe in our
physical world they do. But, in the Spiritual world of heaven and hell,
there are only two judgments, either living with God eternally or living
without him.

God has chosen us to be his children and spend eternity in heaven with him.
Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:9, "But you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare
the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."
(NIV)

You see the thing about God choosing us is that he didn't need to research
our lives on the internet. He knows all about us, our sins are not hidden
from him. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews in Hebrews 4:9-13 explains
this to us. Notice what he writes: "So there is a special rest still waiting
for the people of God. For all who have entered into God's rest have rested
from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do
our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel
did, we will fall. For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper
than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between
joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in
all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his
eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable." (NLT)

We are a chosen people and will spend eternity in "rest with God," if we "do
our best," to serve him and live the way Christians are supposed to live.
There will not be a time to campaign and proclaim that we are right for the
kingdom of God. We will go there based upon our tract record in following
His Word, the thoughts and intents of our heart, and because of His Grace
and Love. All of the votes of our friends and family won't get us into
heaven, God has the final say. The apostle John says it this way: "And I saw
the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were
opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were
judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books."
(Revelation 20:12, NIV)

Russ Lawson