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Every presidential election season in the U.S., all eyes look toward election day—“The Tuesday next after the 1st Monday in November”[1]—when Americans head to the polls to fulfill their duty as citizens: voting. Whether by candidates vying for office, journalists and news outlets, or friends and family members, voters are implored to exercise their constitutional right and pull the lever for the candidate they’d most like to see in the Oval Office. The act of voting is imbued with near-sacred importance.
While voting may not be sacred, it is important. In our representative form of government, casting votes is one of the principal ways we make our voices heard. And it’s a right that many in our country’s history have fought to see extended to all American citizens of voting age. Voting isn’t something we should take lightly.
But a presidential election only comes around once every four years. As important as it is to participate in the political process by voting, casting a vote shouldn’t be the only way we engage in the public life of our republic. As Christians, what does our faith compel us to do in the four years between presidential elections?
There are several ways to answer this question. From the prophet Micah (Micah 6:8) to Paul’s letter to the Romans (Romans 13:1–7), the Bible is replete with instructions on how we are to live in society with others. Yet regardless of where we turn in the Scriptures, Jesus’s words echo throughout: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31).
For Christians, the command we’ve been given is simple: we are to love our neighbors. We are to be neighbors.
Naturally, the command to love our neighbors sparks a handful of questions for us—chief among them: What is love?
First-century Christians must have had similar questions about love because the apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthian church, spelled it out plainly:
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends (13:4–8a ESV).
What does it mean to love our neighbors now, in the time between presidential elections? At the very least, it means to be patient with our neighbors; to be kind to them; to be humble and respectful toward them; to be accommodating and open to meeting their needs and hearing their ideas; to be cheerful toward them; to wish them well; to commit to them for the long haul and to hope good things for them—and even to effect good things for them.
Love is nonpartisan. It compels us to cross all boundaries, political or otherwise, for our neighbors’ good. And without love, all our political activity, no matter how grand it is or “inspired” it seems, will be nothing more than a “noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1 ESV).
But like the lawyer in Luke 10, the command to love our neighbor might lead us to ask another question: “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29 ESV).
Jesus’s answer to this question in the Scriptures, in the parable of the good Samaritan, flips the question on its head. Instead of “Who is my neighbor,” we ought to ask, “Who am I to be a neighbor to?” Answer: Those who are in need, regardless of class, religion, race, creed—or political affiliation. Even those we’d consider our enemies.
At its very core, our political engagement is not about grand gestures or national politics. It’s about seeking our neighbors’ welfare and “the welfare of the city,” the community, the neighborhood, and the street “where [God has] sent [us]” (Jeremiah 29:7 ESV). It’s about seeing every act of participation as an opportunity to love your neighbor as yourself.
The good Samaritan stands as an example of what it looks like to love our neighbor as ourselves. And Jesus’s command to us today—before, on, and after Election Day—is the same as it was to the lawyer in Luke’s Gospel: “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37 ESV).
So, by all means, vote. But don’t let your vote be the sum total of your political engagement. Love your neighbors. Serve them. Befriend them. Feed them dinner. Be generous toward them. Pray for them. Tell them about Jesus. Invite them to church. Drive their kids to practice. Have them in your home. Listen to them. Be kind and patient and committed to their good. Sacrifice for them, as Jesus did.
[1] “2U.S. Code § 7 - Time of Election,” Legal Information Institute, accessed September 26, 2024, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/2/7.
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