Watching municipal elections around the country, I'm reminded of how, to get elected, candidates feel the need to sell their souls. I don't mean playing to special interests. I mean playing to ordinary voters. Winning candidates mostly build coalitions of the self-interested.
Churchill was right, I think: "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."
The Bible makes clear that, in our fallen world, government is necessary and that those who serve faithfully in government are servants of God, whether they believe in God or not. Christians are called by Scripture to pray for leaders, whether they agree with them or not. They're also to pay their taxes and be good citizens. And it's clear to me that Jesus's call that we love God and love neighbor means that we should seek to vote in the best interest of our neighbor, not of ourselves.
Saint Paul writes: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves..." (Philippians 2:3)
Christians are freed to live in this way because we have been received into God's kingdom through faith in Jesus and nothing can separate us from the love of God given in Jesus. (Romans 8:31-39)
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