Growing up, I knew I lived in a politically active family. My dad would talk politics at the dinner table every time guests were around and often with my mother. As a little tyke, I clung to my mom’s sides when she went into the special “fitting room” but never tried on clothes. We went to rallies, stood outside the capital in knee high snow and sub zero degree temperatures, sipping hot cocoa, memorized all the presidents’ names in a history game, and even took a field trip once to Washington D.C.
Two recurring lessons that have echoed into adulthood:
- Voting for a third party candidate is a non-vote
- When in doubt, always vote for the candidate who is strong on A. Issue.
For the purposes of this post, I won’t go into any details about what that A. Issue is. Since stepping into the world of anti trafficking, I’ve discovered a multitude of information that has challenged my beliefs and the lessons with which I was raised. For example, imagine my surprise when I discovered Christopher Columbus wasn’t the patron saint of exploration and integrity!
Also, finding my calling in the world of anti trafficking and getting advanced training in intervention and prevention has enabled me to step back and open myself to the gray areas and complexities to various issues. Certainly, I have more knowledge of certain issues vs others because I’m only human and I don’t have all the answers.
The truth: no one has all the answers.
That is why no issue is black and white. That is because people are not black and white. Imagine how much easier life would be if people were just two shades. Yes, there is universal truth. There is also fake news, manipulation, grooming, good intentions but poor application, wolves in sheep’s clothing, and more. Whatever the issue and whatever the party or community attached to each one, at least one of above if not all can be found. Some of our greatest presidents of time had deep flaws, moral ambiguity, and sins that both sides would state were unforgivable.
This is where the gray comes in.
When writing this post, one verse kept sticking in my head. And it was the one on how believers are to “put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony”. This verse shortly follows a section on how our new selves found in Christ transcend labels and races. “There is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised…slave, free…”. In Christ, there is not Right or Left or Red or Blue.
Yes, universal truth exists. How to apply that truth in our lives is vastly more complex. After all, Scripture does not give instructions for voting in a two-party system. However, it does tell us that Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Ultimately, he is the only one who judges hearts perfectly. I cannot know others’ hearts. I can only know mine. And if I vote with a bleeding heart vs a frugal mind, I also believe God’s love covers the multitude of unknowns and my good intentions. Not just my sin. Ultimately, Jesus is bigger than the outcome because He transcends the outcome.
At the end of it all, the boxes I check are less important than Jesus’s check mark on my heart. That matters the most.