Stop Coasting and Put the Pedal to the Metal

As a rule in life, people don’t like doing hard things.

Perhaps it goes back to the beginning. Refusing to do difficult things doesn’t necessarily have to do with the actual doing – but sometimes with disobeying.

From the very first days in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve proved undisciplined and disinterested in following what they obviously construed as a difficult rule. We read in Genesis:

The Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’ (Genesis 2:16-17)

Tempted by the serpent, Eve couldn’t resist the false promise that she’d be as wise as God if she ate of the fruit. She disobeyed, ate what was forbidden, and then shared it with Adam. The world and life would never again be the same.

Christians face other temptations, of course, including over our role and obligations associated with how to be productive and effective citizens.

Yet, according to recent data, more than 40 million Christians don’t vote. That’s the equivalent of the entire state of California staying home every election. Actor Dean Cain, who’s starring in the latest God’s Not Dead film, recently reflected:

“I think that if those 40 million came out and voted — [even] if 20 million came out and voted, that changes everything. And I think we [then] go to a place that makes a lot more sense as a country and as a world, and I think it’s of the utmost importance.”

In God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust, Cain portrays Marc Shelley, a businessman and protagonist. A review of the film from our colleagues at Plugged In can be found here.

Why do so many believers choose not to vote at all?

The number of disaffected citizens is growing. Disapproval in both parties and politicians have been rising as a general apathy seems to have washed across the electorate. Cynicism, distrust and political exhaustion are regularly cited as reasons why people don’t bother to cast their ballot.

But simply voting won’t solve all our problems either.

Far too many Christian voters are coasting – filling out their ballots, checking the box and then going ahead and living lives detached from the Bible. They ease back into the culture rather than being countercultural.

The apathetic voter may not be as problematic as the disaffected nonvoter, but the practical differences are negligible.

Christians need to walk the talk. They need to do and say the hard things – even if it might mean losing brownie points with the cool and hip kids of culture.

Christian voters need to hold parties and politicians accountable. They need to roll up their sleeves and be active members in their communities. There are all kinds of ways to do so – from being an active member of your church, to volunteering at a pregnancy resource clinic, getting involved with your state’s family policy council, to becoming a foot soldier to try and defeat anti-life or anti-family ballot initiatives.

There’s no question that cultural engagement can be wearisome work. But as the old Scottish proverb states, “Hard work never killed a man. Men die of boredom, psychological conflict, and disease. They do not die of hard work.”

What constitutes hard work may look different depending upon your age and stage in life. But now is not the time to take the emergencies of our day leisurely. It is not the time to coast.

It is always time to pray – and then when the Lord gives you the green light, it’s time to put the pedal to the metal and act.

Image from Shutterstock.