The Only Way To Not Waste Your Vote

Politics is not a fantasy world. You have not entered the realm of werewolves and vampires, where a silver bullet or a clove of garlic is going to vanquish the problem. We still live in this ole’ cursed world, where issues still spring up from the heart, and sin has never been something you can manage. The reality John Owen spoke of still has a gorilla-grip hold on us: “Be killing sin, or it will be killing you.”

The point is that politics is not a viable alternative to gospel-advancing work on the part of individual Christians. While you can legislate morality, you can’t change hearts. While you may elect Christians, you can’t elect a Christian nation. Why? Because sin always catches up with you. If you didn’t deal a death-blow to sin in individual hearts through the gospel at the start, sin will deal you a slow, desensitized destruction at the end. The daily gospel-advancing work of everyday Christians is the only option for heart-change that leads to home-change that leads to community-change that leads to national-change.
Pastor Douglas Wilson said it so well when he said, “We have no political solution to the political disease that afflicts us.” Read that again, nice and slowly. If it helps, try reading it with James Earl Jone’s voice in your head. “We have no political solution to the political disease that afflicts us.”

Because there is no political solution, Christians will have strong debates on what to do during this election cycle. When the options are what they are, much wisdom is needed. The Bible calls us to love our neighbor, and we are going to wrangle over how to do that best with our vote. All kinds of options are on the table. You can restrain evil from one side, you can restrain evil from the other side, you can bolster a third-party candidate, or you can write in the best candidate you can find. But this is clear: Whichever way you vote as a Spirit-led Christian, who hopes only in the Lord, your vote is not wasted. If you believe heart repentance and gospel ministry is the only hope, and there is no political silver bullet, then your vote is being cast with the right perspective.

It is a common sentiment that you hear over and over again. If you vote for then you have wasted your vote and helped the other side. This is simply a political way of saying, “Being in the minority is the place of hopelessness.” This makes me ask if a person has ever read the Bible. Have you never read of Joshua’s conquest? Have you never read of Gideon’s 300 men? Have you never read of Asa’s battle in 2 Chronicles 14? Is the only hope against Babylon to turn to Egypt? Is more men and more chariots the only hope against an adversary? All of this is the fantasy of waving garlic at your vampires. It may look wise to the world, but Psalm 20:7 says “Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of the LORD, our God.”

A person who boasts in the name of the Lord and votes for a third party or does a write-in has not wasted their vote. Why? Because they are not hoping in a political solution. They are boasting in the Lord, and the way they have fleshed it out is in voting for someone that would be the best candidate in their view. In your boasting in the Lord, you may vote in another way, and there are understandable reasons for doing that. Debatable, but understandable. But if your boast in the Lord is shaky, you certainly will cling to a false notion of a political solution no matter how dubious it looks, the same way a drowning man will grab at anything. And that drowning man will probably yell to others in the water, “Don’t waste your energy hoping a great fish will swallow you and carry you to safety. Where did you get that idea?” Where did you get that idea, indeed.

The church foolishly took on a majority mindset decades ago and now we are unsettled that no one represents us well. Clinging to a “lesser evil” candidate is the desperate version of clinging to a political solution. Hoping in a moral, upstanding candidate looks and feels better, but it is just as unbiblical for the same reason. It’s time to repent of that mindset. There is no political solution. We must learn again what Nebuchadnezzar learned, “That the Most High is the ruler over the realm of mankind.” (Daniel 4:17) The only solution is boasting in the Lord who grants repentance, changes hearts, and builds His church. Vote as you will, but put your only boast in the Lord.

So let the debates happen as to which vote is the wisest to spend your penny of political leverage. But Christian, you have riches in Christ. Join your penny of American citizenship to the wealth of being a co-heir with Christ and invest yourself into the work of gospel-advancing repentance, both personal and national. Whichever way you vote, you have not wasted your penny, if and only if you boast in the Lord.