Last year after election day I turned a new leaf and made a new commitment to the democratic process. Having lived a life of political apathy until that point, I felt challenged to care about the democratic process by Christians in my life that I respected. I was not pressured to consider one party over another, but was encouraged to educate myself on the issues.

This challenge came during a year when Jesus began unpacking layers of my inner demons and dysfunctions, and through that process I discovered I was a lazy and apathetic person in general, not just politically. I made decisions based on my comfort, on convenience, on what I was feeling at the moment. I was a lazy thinker, coasting on the beliefs of my upbringing. Caring about democracy just wasn’t in the top ten list of Things That Make Jen Feel Better.

Funny, since if you took democracy away from me I would be feeling very consternated.

So this year during election week I dug out the King County voter’s pamphlet and read up on all the issues. I found that as a homeowner I was interested in reading up on proposals about property tax increases; as a car owner I read up on road and bridge proposals; as a mother I read up on school levy proposals. Not having thought about these things at all in the last year, my brain was exercised to think about my priorities and how I wanted my tax dollars spent.

The morning after I voted, I found myself leaning against the stove, sipping coffee and watching the local news coverage regarding election results. That afternoon I checked the website for our major newspaper to see updated election results. I found myself invested in the very issues I knew nothing about prior to election day.

In addition to caring about my tax dollars, I found myself thinking about kingdom living. I had to think about what I believed, not just in terms of being a Republican or a Democrat, but also in terms of being a Christ follower. The Gospels tell a story about a Jesus who cared for the widows and orphans; Proverbs teaches the difference between the wise and the foolish; Paul says we should put others before ourselves and seek the good of others; Genesis describes an Earth that God created out of nothing.

The more I think of all the political issues being debated today, the more I’m drawn to scripture as a guide for what my role, as a Christian in culture, should be. One of my favorite passages, Ephesians 4, contrasts the dangers of lazy thinking with the wisdom of Christ’s instruction:

17-19And so I insist-and God backs me up on this-that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd. They’ve refused for so long to deal with God that they’ve lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can’t think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion.

20-24But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything-and I do mean everything-connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life-a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.

I was once empty headed and mindless – in regards to politics as well as many other things – going along with the most shiny and persuasive thought presented to me. But now I view my political options through the lens of scripture, my eyes are opening to so many people and things I previously ignored, and I pray that Jesus will continue to deliver me from my own apathy.

I am no political activist, but my recent vote made a tiny dent in the way things turned out – both at the polls and in my priorities – and that’s all I was hoping for.

(Photo by raysto.)