Did your vote make a difference?
As Christians God calls upon us to walk with Him. What does it mean to walk with God? Well, God is our Father, and we are His children. Therefore, when walk with God we hold His Hand. We ask for and accept His comfort and guidance. We obey His commands.
In His post, Salvageable asks us to consider “what if?” He looks at recent elections, and he asks us to consider alternative possibilities. What if the other guy had won? In truth, we have no way of knowing, but we can speculate. What if the other guy had won?
When we vote we choose for ourselves, our family, our friends and our neighbors. Together we choose the people who make laws and spend trillions of our dollars. Let us all hold our Lord’s Hand. Let us pray we choose wisely. Let us pray we don’t regret the candidate we supported and told others to support. Let us pray we vote wisely.
Tom, I liked your response. I personally am not a fan of the “What If” game at least in the post sense as the author described. I understand we need some of it when applying biblical discernment top a present or upcoming decision but I do not see the value of DWELLING in the past. We posted an article a while back entitled God’s Goal, https://fsmandfsmwo.blog/2019/06/13/gods-goal/ that explains it well.
@directorfsm
That’s a difficult one. The context of Philippians 3:12-16 is complex. I think both you are Salvageable are right, but only in part.
Remember that old tale about the blind men and the elephant (=>https://citizentom.com/2014/02/11/the-difficulty-of-considering-anothers-point-of-view/). None of us ever see the whole truth. None of us can see God, but we can all be grateful to God, and we can all see a part of the character of God better than someone else and share what we see.
The Bible is to a large extent a history book. So, when we read it we are dwelling upon what our Lord has done for us and told us about Himself. When we dwell upon His Word, we learn about God.
My conversion story is seemingly a simple one. When I was in my fifties, I read the Bible, that is, I listened to a recording of it as I commuted to work and exercised. One day, after reading the Bible I realized I believed it. Characteristically, I was just relieved and quietly happy.
When I cannot even tell you the date, why do I still look back at that moment? As I have grown in the faith, I have grown more thankful because more and more I understand it was His doing, not of anything I could have done. The Lord shaped and preserved me for that moment. I am thankful to God for bringing me to the realization that His Word is true, that I could trust it and Him.
I think if you read Philippians 3:12-16 in context you will see that Paul is saying something similar. Paul was certainly a more capable man than I yet like myself he was saved by the Spirit of God, not by any works of the flesh. Hence Paul urges us to repent and accept the forgiveness of God for our sins, to accept His grace, and look forward to glorifying Him in Heaven, to live for the life to come.
Remember Romans 8:28. What God does is beyond our understanding. Still, we can obtain a glimmer of understanding when we look back. Then we can be amazed, thankful, and give the glory to Him,
Tom,
I agree. “Let us pray we vote wisely.”
Because if we do, history will have no need or desire to ponder the what ifs as much or as often as we are now doing because of all the foolish decisions …. made by voters who were made pawns of foolish leaders instead of wise leader, in my opinion.
Regards and goodwill blogging.