Lead us to Follow
Every politician is vying for our votes this election year, as they are regularly want to do. What strikes me is that they all claim to be able to “save” us.
How many times have we heard from the candidates that it is only he or she who can save our country, whether it be from economic decline, border regulations, dwindling Social Security, inadequate job availability or even loss of income due to high cost of living and taxes. Really? Save us??
Different ones will argue both ends of the spectrum – that higher or lower taxes is the answer, or that more or less government involvement will right the wrongs. Equally fervent contenders will insist that abortion is saving lives or is losing lives.
I feel sometimes like Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof when he is faced with having to settle issues of rightness in his community when there are persons arguing the exact opposite as TRUTH. His response is, "You are right." "You are also right!" Obviously solving nothing. How do we sort out what is true? How can opposites both be true.
Is there such a thing as absolute truth? I fervently believe so. I do believe, however, that it is difficult for we mere mortals to come to grips with universal truth. Is there such a thing as what is good or bad that applies to all of mankind? Current movies and publications withstanding, there is a standard that all can use.
Of course, to agree to use one standard requires our belief that there is a Higher Power. That Power – the Judeo-Christian God – assures us that there is a bottom line, an authoritative answer to our moral dilemmas. Even our country’s Constitution was founded on the Biblical principles of God. Who among us feels we have permission to violate any of the Big 10 – the Ten Commandments? Not I.
To make it even simpler, more concise, if we look at the words in the Shema (Deuteronomy 6), it is crystal clear how we should treat one another. If we do all that, which is to put God himself first, loving him with all our hearts, souls and minds (6:5), and then we love our neighbor as ourselves, what more is there to say.
I find it exceedingly apropos that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – who by the way is also the God of Christianity – admonishes us to HEAR Him. In the Hebrew language the hearing implies, includes also DOING.
When I was in a secular college as a Believer in God – and in His Son Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) – my bottom line for what I was learning was always the Word of God. If it measured up to a principle of the Bible, I knew that was the right path.
So back to our dilemma. How can we know which candidates seeking our votes to govern us are “right”? Look at their party’s political platform. How do they measure up to God’s Word? Go with God every time.
Bottom line: We don’t need saving! God has already offered us salvation. What does He know? I will believe the Creator over any of His Creation every time. What we need from our politicians is to lead us to better follow HIM.