A Prayer for Unity on Election Day
Businesses across the country have already started boarding up their windows. Law enforcement officials are on standby prepared for what might come Tuesday evening and the days that follow.
As we near Tuesday’s Presidential election, I find myself fearing the worst but hoping for the best.
I am praying fervently for unity, and I want to invite you to join me.
This year has felt more divisive than any other year I can remember in my life. Maybe it’s recency bias, but between the COVID-19 pandemic, racial injustice, and the election, people have seemingly become more vocal and vitriolic with their ideology to the point that friendships and relationships — even families — have been severed simply because people don’t agree and have forgotten how to disagree.
By and large, we’ve lost the ability to be civil. Don’t believe me? Just log onto Facebook for about five minutes and scroll. Or, worse, check the replies to any tweet at all related to the election or COVID-19.
If you’ve paid attention at all, you’ve seen two factions of people become aggressively polarized and vengeful. Political idolatry has taken hold in the hearts of many, including Christians, where grace and peace need to reside.
The rhetoric coming from both presidential candidates has no doubt fanned many of the flames that are setting our hearts and minds on fire.
But I believe in a God who is greater than all of this and already has a plan for all of this. I am praying that all of you can resist the urge to be vengeful or boastful, depending on the result of the election as it relates to your candidate, and I am praying for peace at the polls.
I am praying that whatever the result is that our country rallies to fight for health, safety, and the basic human rights we are all entitled to. I’m praying we do all of that together rather than just taking up our arms again to fight against the other side.
Romans 14:19 puts it much more eloquently than I can:
“Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”
Partisan politics just seems like a never-ending teeter-totter of one side fighting for power. At what point will we just become exhausted by all of the fighting and politics?
Regardless of what the result of Tuesday’s election is, we have hope in an infallible God. People will always let us down — even our preferred presidential candidate. Resist the urge to make politics or political figures an idol and reserve that level of devotion to God.
Lastly, as Christians, we must fight the urge become disunified as a result of our political or ideological differences. I pray for unity among believers on Tuesday and going forward.
Last week we got to hear a guest sermon at our church from Wayne Dickens, who serves as Western Kentucky University’s director of their chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Wayne will be a guest on my podcast soon, and I’m excited for you to hear more about the topic of unity then, because that’s what his entire sermon was on.
He said in his home they have a rule: as long as everyone has the same last name and lives under the same roof, they all must get along. As Christians, we all bear the same last name. On Election Day and going forward, remember that. We might disagree, but we all live under the same roof.
We are called to be light in darkness, and it will be hard for our light to shine if we’re using it to burn other people.
Our church is starting a 40-day corporate prayer journey, and the entire first week is focused on praying for our elected officials and those who work in government. Whether you have a church home or not, I’d like to invite you to join along with this prayer journey. You can find the weekly guide here
To start, please join me in prayer as we look ahead to Tuesday:
Father God, I pray for our nation on Tuesday. I pray over the hearts of every person voting, that they don’t view their vote as a weapon or someone else’s vote as a threat to them. I pray that no one weaponizes their ideology or allows political idolatry to guide their decisions.
I pray for peace, unity, graciousness, and understanding among Christians and across our entire nation. I pray our country will be united in purpose and not divided by differences.
It’s in Jesus’s name I pray, Amen.