Should I Even Vote?

In a month, Americans will be beckoned to the polls to vote on (among other things) who should be President of the United States. While there are other candidates on the ballots in many states, for all practical purposes, it would seem that this is an election between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, the candidates of the two major parties.

I have friends who are Democrats who love President Obama. I also have friends who are Republicans who think Mitt Romney would make an incredible President. That being said, in all honesty, I have a hard time getting excited about either candidate.

Thabiti Anyabwile apparently shares this sentiment. He wrote a post on Wednesday as well as a follow-up post today in which he explained why he would not vote in next month's presidential election. I don't necessarily agree with all of Anyabwile's conclusions, but I found his thoughts to be (at the very least) thought-provoking as I consider my duty as I serve Christ in this election as well as others.

In his final paragraph today he writes:

It’s not rhetoric I want in my candidate, or invented lives and embellished pasts, faux images and focus-group-tailored soundbites. I want to elect a free man, someone who stands flat-footed and leans into the cross-current of moral drift with conviction and courage. If he’s out there, he has my vote. And if a two-party system denies a righteous man opportunity to stand for justice then the system itself is the evil we need to oppose.

You can read today's entire post by clicking here. I'd love to hear your feedback on this topic.

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

"The man who has faith is the man who is no longer looking at himself, and no longer looking to himself. He no longer looks at anything he once was. He does not look at what he is now. He does not look at what he hopes to be as the result of his own efforts. He looks entirely to the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work, and he rests on that alone.

"He has ceased to say, 'Yes, I have committed terrible sins but I have done this and that.' He stops saying that. If he goes on saying that, he has not got faith.

"Faith speaks in an entirely different manner and makes a man say, 'Yes, I have sinned grievously, I have lived a life of sin, yet I know that I am a child of God because I am not resting on any righteousness of my own; my righteousness is in Jesus Christ, and God has put that to my account.'"

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all. This is not true of us only when we believe. It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be true as long as we live. Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in behavior may be. It is always on His “blood and righteousness” alone that we can rest.

B.B. Warfield, Works, 7:113

Are You a Good Person?

Are you a good person? I suppose that most of us would instinctively answer, "Yes." After all, we try to be nice to people, help out when we can, and avoid anything we would perceive as a grievous misdeed.

But if we are to even begin to judge our "goodness," the question that is begged is, "Against what standard will we measure it?" Our tendency is to grade on a curve, comparing ourselves to others in the world (and usually to the worst of others at that). But God does not grade on a curve. When it comes to goodness, his standard is perfection. It's pass/fail and we all fail.

I saw this great thought today from Jared Wilson:

"Measure up to us" was the expectation of the Pharisee.

"Measure up to me" is the expectation of God.

Which is harder?

Thank God that in Christ Jesus the harder is done and the easier is worthless.

Indeed, Christ Jesus not only died the death that we should have died, but before that he lived the life we should have lived. That is why God can look upon us and account us as "good." If we are united with Christ through faith, then his righteousness becomes ours. By receiving this goodness that Christ offers, true goodness can truly be ours. But if instead we say, "I'll pass," then we are only destined to fail.