As a nation we are blessed to have a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”  But there’s one key requirement, participation of the people. And the most basic participation is voting.  When you vote you help determine who will lead our nation, make our laws and protect our liberties.

Our faith in God should influence our values in life, and that includes the political arena. People of faith, grounded in moral truth, must be prepared to discern those candidates best able to uphold moral values and Biblical principles.  As Christ’s representatives on earth, we are under a mandate to be “salt and light” in our culture (Matthew 5:13-16), voting is one way we can and must do this.

According to the US Census Bureau, as many as 25-35 percent of eligible Americans are not registered to vote. Less than half of the voting-age population actually votes in any given election. What’s worse is only one out of four eligible evangelical Christians vote.  Of 59 million potential evangelical voters, 24 million are not even registered to vote.  Only 20 million of the 35 million registered evangelical voters went out and actually voted. Author Jim Nelson Black, in his book When Nations Die, wrote: “One of the greatest reasons for the decline of American society over the past century has been the tendency of Christians to abandon the forum at the first sign of resistance.”

It is absolutely critical that Christians be registered voters and informed voters.  As believers, we have a duty to be involved in the process.  But our charge is not simply to vote our party affiliation, or even our pocketbook. Instead, we must vote our values, our beliefs, our convictions. An informed vote takes effort.  The choice may not always be easy, but it is always significant.