With Pen or Punch or Stroke

11/6/2018

Good election day morning! It is an enormously different day in this country compared to other countries. I’m 76 and been watching elections since 1956. This year is really something.

Yet, as we who believe the bible is God’s word know, this is just as temporal as the next election. Do I believe we should vote? Absolutely! Do I believe it will change the outcome of the world? Absolutely not! However, it will change the face of the world you and I live in (which is so very small compared to the world the Lord will one day rule over.) But, we’re not called to change the world, we’re called to be ambassadors for Christ; to speak the power of God unto salvation, and give the same hope we have in the gospel of Christ to any and all with whom we come in contact. How can we do what we need to be doing with the least encumbrances from the world’s losing system? By not losing the freedoms we have accustomed ourselves to using.

Each saved individual ambassador, living in their own  country, utilizes the flexibility of his or her political limitations as we see with our Apostle. Take a good look at Paul from prison in Acts 16. He used his Roman citizenship as a plus for the ministry, as he did again in Acts 21 through Acts 28—I hope you say “amen” to that because of Rom.8:28, and not just slough it off and say, “none of this matters anyway.” It all matters. Leading a quiet and peaceful life isn’t just for our comfort, it is for our ease in telling the truth. Very few nations in the world allow people saved and willing to name the name of Christ to do so. If we are to utilize our time for the Lord, let’s do it freely.

Internet freedom…who knows how long that will last, is an amazing thing. This morning, I started a dialogue through emails with someone half way around the world. Isn’t that simply amazing? Snail mail would mean days or weeks for mail to get exchanged. He and I exchanged thoughts this morning as if we were sitting in the same room! Any influence we have in any capacity used toward not losing this access should be employed.

The SIMH today is another old one I heard sang first by an old man, of maybe 60, when I was about 8 or 9 in Shiloh Seperate Baptist Church (that’s the way their sign spelled separate.) He had become a preacher of sorts and my father’s opinion of him was that he started too late. But he sang this song pretty well! “When God Dips His Love in My Heart” —written by Cleavant Derricks (again.) He said, “Well I said I wouldn’t tell it to a living soul, how He brought salvation and it made me whole, but I found I couldn’t hide such love that Jesus did impart….” Great truth in those words. the line about the title says …when God dips his pen of love in my heart (opening verse says God “wrote my soul a blessing”.) Dipping of a pen is not known today without a history lesson. Until after WW2, (1946) writing pens were repeatedly dipped into an ink well in order to write. Mr. Derricks wrote this song in the ‘30s.

I hope your day goes well and that you will exercise your right to vote, even if you think it is futile. Remember, it is your personal space, in which you are supposed to live peacefully. Your time there is precious. Your effort for the Lord which could be hindered or helped, whatever you believe about politics, go vote anyway.

Thanks for reading, the Elder