Does your Faith affect your Voting?
Does your faith affect your voting?
I am reading a great book right now, “Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus, Become like him, Do as he did.” The author presents a new way of understanding discipleship by using the model of an “apprentice”. As a plumber needs time served in an apprenticeship, learning the trade, being able to read blue prints, and getting training in all aspects of plumbing, followers of Jesus need to apprentice with Jesus in a similar way.
We all have faith, even atheists have faith, faith in something. We all live by some stated or unstated rules or principles, which affect the way we live. We are not blank slates, but we make decision and live our lives based on our “faith”. It would make sense that one’s life choices would be based on one’s faith. Faith in a particular philosophy, religion, or humanistic points of view, all can have power because we live by their teachings.
We know that humans in general are not always consistent in living out their principles…we take short cuts, we fudge, we live in denial, and we play the blame game. Still we have at our core a faith that informs our behaviors.
Does faith in Jesus, influence your life? Is what Jesus taught, lived out in your life? Is my relationship with Jesus in control of my life or are other faiths at work? I have long given up on “pure motives”, but does my faith in what Jesus teaches as well as who I believe Jesus to be, challenge me to live a certain way?
When we apprentice with Jesus, we spend time with him. This means everything from worship, Bible studies, meditation, studying Bible stories with great commentaries and learning tools. We can’t physically be with Jesus, but we can be with all that he taught and the situations he found himself in. We can involve ourselves in a faith community. It’s the best way to “spend time with Jesus.
Then, in spending time with Jesus, we become more like him. Why? Because Jesus’ teachings start to shape us. Like an apprentice we learn from Jesus about, forgiveness, others, peace, love, and compassion.
The goal of all this time with Jesus, is to be Jesus in the world. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls us, “You are the light of the world” (Mt 5:14). Jesus expects us to carry on his mission. We do that by how we live. How we love. How we treat others.
Have you connected how you vote to your faith in Jesus? Does your faith in Jesus challenge you to live in specific ways?
In Advent we celebrate with anticipation, Jesus’ coming into the world. I believe Jesus is already here, when we, as his apprentices, become like him and do as he did.
Learn to love like Jesus, and your light will shine for all the world to see!