Choose Your Leader

"Do I not hate those who hate Thee, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against Thee? I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies." Psalm 139:21-24

I'm kind of a political junky.  I love to watch political debates.  I actually try to educate myself on the candidates.  And if you asked me to explain who you should vote for, I could give you the pros and cons of each candidate--on both sides of the political aisle.  That said, I've also learned a few things about choosing a political candidate.
 
For starters, there is no such thing as a "perfect" candidate.  Because candidates are human, they all of carry around some type of baggage.  And they've all made mistakes.  In my opinion, the best way to get past these mistakes is to see who is willing to admit to them; who will be transparent; and who is willing to correct their missteps.  Trust me on this, ALL candidates have some missteps.

Next, you have to realize that you're not going to agree with your candidate on all issues.  I don't care if you go to the same church or went to the same college, odds are there are some issues upon which you will disagree.  And that's OK.  If you're like me and live in the USA, we're blessed to live in a country where we can have our own opinions and disagree.  We just have to be sure we choose a candidate whose differences of opinion we can live with, even if we disagree on minor matters.  If we disagree on major matters, that's when it's time to look for a new candidate to follow.
 
As much as I love politics, I'm so thankful that my God is not a politician.  He is consistent, pure, and ALWAYS on the right side of every issue (and I'm not saying "right" as in "right leaning" but I mean absolutely right!)  When we choose to follow God, we can have confidence that He has no baggage or alternative agendas.  God is love.  He is good.  And God stands for everything that is pure and perfect.  That means, that if we "disagree" with God on an issue like we do our political candidates, we can be sure that we are WRONG on that issue. 

During my Bible time this morning, I noticed a note in my Bible that I wrote in high school.  It said this: Do I love what God loves? Do I hate what God hates? Intimacy with the Creator/Loyalty with the Creator.  In other words, to be intimate with my Creator, I have to be loyal to Him and love what He loves, while hating what He hates.  Basically, to be on God's Team, I have to be 100% on His side of every matter.

I have to wonder, am I 100% on God's side of every matter.  Do I live like I completely agree with Him?  Do I truly hate what He hates?  And Do I really love what He loves and who He loves?  Or do I treat God like He's one of my politicians who I agree with only a percentage of the time? If I truly want personal intimacy with God (which is something I'll probably never have with any of my Presidents,) then I need to live a life of loyalty to Him.  

I'm so thankful that God has made the decision-making process easy for us spiritually--choose Him and all things good or choose all things evil.  It's too bad the political decision-making process will never be this easy.