Romans 13:1 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. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.
These verses say that God is the one that sets up governments, everyone of them in the world. From the beginning of time, until the end of time, God set them all up. Since He set up the United States of America, and He gave us the constitution, he expects us to participate in our government. Because he gave us this kind of constitution, He will judge us to what we did, or did not do, with that constitution.
The best way to show that we appreciate the government He gave us, is by voting. If we choose not to participate like He planned, then He will give us bad and wicked leaders. Simply because we didn’t exercise the right that He gave us in the constitution. It is the right of the citizens to vote and to choose their leaders.
Now, if those who are good people refuse to go and vote, that means that evil people will elect evil people. Which would mean that the good people that did not vote deserve what they get. It is the right of all citizens of the United States to vote and if you don’t, then it’s your fault if you get bad people to govern.
Christian should vote every chance they get, especially if they’re citizens of the United States. The constitution and Bill of Rights was set up “by the people for the people”. God used the founders to set up the constitution so that the people would be able to select their leaders. We need to obey that constitution and do whatever it is that we have to do, which is go and vote. Since God gave us the right to vote it’s our problem if we don’t. And if we don’t, we can get the wrong people in office just because we didn’t exercise the rights that God gave us. And he’ll give us what we deserve.
In other countries they don’t have that privilege, like in communist countries, they are told what they’re going to do. Dictatorships, and kings are the same way. The people do what the government tells them to do. But the kind of government that God gave us, we get to decide.
Lets read Romans 13:1 again…
1 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.
This makes it clear that God is the one that sets up every government that has ever been created on the face of the earth. We happen to live in a country where we get to choose the people that govern us, for good or bad. We live in a country where God allows us a constitution, whereby we get to participate in that government.
This is what God wanted for the United States, to allow the citizens of the country a voice in how they are governed. God directed our founders on what to say and write into that constitution and bylaws. But, it’s not what man set up, God did it.
It is hard for mankind to govern themselves in a good way, after all, we live in a fallen world, and everyone is a sinner. This shows us how goodness can be pursued or how evil can be pursued depending on who we vote into office.
Romans 13:1 says that God has set up our government. So by His grace, He wants people to participate in the government that he gave them. Don’t you think it is a possibility that he wants us to participate? If he wants us to participate that means he wants us, especially Christians, to vote for people that need to be in office that are good people.
Now we know that no one is perfect, so every election is voting for the lesser of two evils. What you considers to be good or evil, rather a person or legislation or a bill, must still be considered according to what the Bible says. God says the day will come when people will call evil good and good evil so you must know what the Bible says.
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
That day is upon us, when people will say good is evil and evil is good. Since we live in that day, and every person is imperfect, we have to choose somebody that is the best that can be provided. All people are imperfect, so looking for the right person or perfect person isn’t going to happen. Only Jesus is perfect, but he’s not campaigning for any of the offices. So we have the lesser of two evils to vote for in every election. He waits to see who we are going to put into office, a good person or a bad person and if we don’t vote, we deserve what we get.
Maranatha