"Voters Who Hold the Key"

"Voters who hold the key"

By: Pastor Jack Schneider

“Any story sounds good until someone tells the other side and sets the record straight.”  [Prov.18:17, LB]

In this election year, more than any other, it’s the independent and undecided voters who hold the key.  The percentage of those who have yet to make up their minds on how they are going to vote is higher than it has ever been; the stakes are enormous.  So as a candidate, which would you rather do: speak first, hoping to gain momentum and plant the early seed of confidence; or, speak last, counting on the opportunity to rebut and leave the stage with your own voice and image fresh in people’s minds?

We know it’s not that simple.  The coming weeks and months will be filled with both sides sniping at one another and the issues each does or does not address.  No story will be told without rebuttal, no question will be answered without careful dissection, no bit of personal history -- recent or ancient -- will escape scrutiny.  As another translation of Prov.18:17 tells it, “The first to speak sounds right, till another comes forward and questions him.”  Go ahead, give your spiel, but then be prepared to have your “spin” taken apart and translated from another’s perspective -- often not the way you’d like.

To tell you the truth, I’d rather go through Judgment Day than this kind of process.  Indeed, Judgment Day exposes all our deeds, lays bare our hearts and souls, and every page of our lives is an open testament -- but we have an Advocate, Jesus Christ, who stands with us, for us, and in our place [1 Jn.2:1].  Because He is our Substitute, His righteousness is ours, His perfect life is ours, His history is ours, and there is no charge to be laid at our feet [Romans 8:31-34].  Praise God, you and I have no fear of what any newspaper or magazine will print about us at that Day…no concern that satan will be able to dredge up some forgotten skeleton from our closet!

This election day you will have to choose the person[s] for whom you wish to vote, hoping and praying you make a wise choice.  How beautiful it is to know that God, in Jesus Christ, has made His choice for you, both now and forever.  He tells you point-blank, “You did not choose me; I chose you!” [Jn.15:16] and our love for Him flows out of His love for us [1 Jn. 4:19]. 

Remember, He is your story.  He got it straight at Calvary, and He signed it with a flourish in the empty garden tomb.  That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.