Let me just say it: Many Christians are sinful voters.

What on earth am I talking about? Let me explain.

Prayer people like me often love this verse as a foundation for our intercession:

2 Chronicles 7:14

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and heal their land. KJV

We intercessors then spend a lot of time praying that God will cause people (particularly non-Christians) to behave righteously.

But can I make a Biblical point? II Chronicles 7:14 says: If MY people.

It’s God’s people who need to turn from their wicked ways. I believe one of our wicked ways is: slothful voting.

Slothfulness is laziness. We Christians are often lazy. We vote what we are told to vote. We have an *assigned party* and we vote party line without ever checking in (and truly seeking his face and listening penitently) with God about His opinions.

I have noticed 4 things:

1. Each major party has what I call a *golden carrot* that it dangles in front of it’s members to keep them voting with the party. This carrot is powerful and party members believe powerfully about it.
   1. For Republicans the golden carrot is abortion. For 40 years, abortion has been the one reason many people stay with the party. It is the only party that takes a pro-life stand. (I’m pro-life and have been watching this for 40 years.)
   2. For Democrats the golden carrot changes, but each election cycle the carrot is the one reason many people vote with the party. Right now the golden carrot is climate change.
2. Each major party has no intention whatsoever to actually DO something meaningful about the golden carrot issue. Think about it:
   1. Republican party: Has there been any change toward pro-life legislation in 40 years? 40 years? Nope. Legislators often throw a weak bill into committee just to say they’ve done something or tack a regulation of abortion onto some other random bill knowing it will be dropped or the bill fail. But nothing meaningful.
   2. Democratic party: Is there lasting, powerful legislation about climate or the environment? Not really.
3. Why is it that the golden carrot issues never get fixed? I believe that if legislators actually take action on these issues and the problem is solved, the *one issue* voters won’t need to stay with the party. Think about it.

This is where our slothfulness as voting Christians comes in.

What if God wants us to tackle these golden carrot issues in a more effective manner? What if the Holy Spirit has wisdom about these issues that we are not learning from Him because we don’t listen. We just vote the party line and forget about it.

You know the AA definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.

Here’s a question that leads into the 4th thing I’ve noticed:

4. God is not a Republican…or a Democrat. He’s God. His ways are not our ways.

What if we voting Christians become praying, seeking God, repenting of our laziness Christians? What if we open our hearts to God’s agenda, whatever that is?

In II Kings 19, King Hezekiah was faced with a hopeless situation. Jerusalem was besieged by the Assyrians who had just sent him a letter with totally non-PC threats of what they were soon going to do the the city’s residents.

Hezekiah had exhausted his options. The situation was hopeless.

So Hezekiah tore his clothes in repentance, took the letter to the temple, spread it out before the Lord and prayed.

This is what God wanted from Hezekiah. God sent the prophet Isaiah to him to let Hezekiah know that God was fed up with the Assyrians. In the morning, the king woke up to the news that an angel of the Lord had slain 185,000 Assyrians during the night and the rest had gone home.

We Americans aren’t in Hezekiah’s situation but we still need God’s help. What if we seek God’s help:

• To identify what golden carrots are being dangled to manipulate us
• To learn how God wants to handle the truly pressing issues of the time
• AND Who God would like us to vote for in this election (it may come as a surprise)

May I encourage you to seek God’s face, pray and turn from any sinful/slothful voting ways? Wouldn’t it be cool if we aligned ourselves with God rather than one party? Let’s see what He will do in our nation.