A Devotion For Election Day

It's election day in America.  Many Christians are freaking out, as if the kingdom of God depended on the outcome of a vote.  Both political parties have said this election is for “the soul of America.”  I don’t want to diminish its importance.  If you haven't already, vote!   But the kingdom of God does not depend on the ballot box. 

We tend to look for evidence of God at work in the visibly obvious.  Politics and policies are conspicuous places to look.  But think about how the kingdom of God came in the first century.  Not by King Herod or by Caesar.  Not by the religious elite, Caiaphas or Annas.  It came by a carpenter named Jesus of Nazareth.  He had no office or position of authority.  The most visible power brokers of the first century were Roman emperors named:

Augustus
Tiberius
Caligula
Claudius  
Nero
Galba
Otho

When is the last time you’ve heard their names?  They are all footnotes in ancient history.  But 2,000 years later, the whole world knows of the humble carpenter, Jesus of Nazareth. 

The kingdom of God comes in hidden ways.  The Kingdom did not arise from military force or democratic elections.  It was inaugurated by a baby born to a teenage mother in a barn. 

He converted the world by truth, not the power of the state. 
By grace, not guns. 
By sacrifice, not the sword. 
By a cross, not a campaign. 

The Kingdom of God was established in hidden and unseen ways that are easy to miss.  Today, take a second look at the world around you.  Don’t miss all that God is doing in hidden, unseen, and subversive ways. 

Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world."   (John 18:36)

How does God's kingdom come?
God's kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.      (Martin Luther, The Small Catechism)