Think about your vote.

3 more sleeps!
Aren't you excited?? In 3 days time, Australians will go to the polls. It's our right, it's our privilege as Australian citizens to cast our vote. But not all of us understand that it's also our responsibility. It can seem like a bit of a drag - an annoying interruption to an otherwise pleasant Saturday arvo.

I recently heard someone say that they were going to cast a "donkey" vote (a vote which is filled out incorrectly and therefore becomes invalid). Their reason was that all the candidates and parties are either corrupt or incompetent, and his vote wouldn't make any difference to the outcome anyway. There might be some natural logic in that, but because I'm a Christian I need to think on a slightly different level about this. Here's what Paul had to say about the way we should interact with our system of government:

"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves." (Romans 13:1-2)

Properly ordered government is one of God's gifts to us. In Australia we have good reason to be thankful for our governments - even if they are not all we would like them to be. And even though God governs to outcome, we are still meant to play our part. The law requires citizens to vote, and I reckon that means that Christians should play their part in  the normal democratic process, and vote thoughtfully.

I certainly don't want to tell you who to vote for in this election, but I want to urge you to think "Christianly" about your vote. Let me point you to a couple of resources that might help you do that.

• Australian Christian Values Checklist - a summary list of topics and responses from all of the major parites. Very eye opening.
• Australian Christian Lobby - Here's a page where you can read detailed responses from the major parties to a range of topics that will interest Christians. I found this very helpful and informative. Especially the non-responses.
• The Canberra Declaration - An online petition that calls on our leaders to "to protect life, defend marriage, support family, secure our religious freedom and safe guard our children". Think about adding your name before polling day.

No matter how you vote on Saturday, let me encourage you to do it prayerfully. By that I don't mean "Lord please let my favourite win". I mean "Lord, how would you like me to use my vote?...please help me to be wise...please help me to be a good citizen regardless of the result of the election result." That's how I think a Christian should approach an election.

What do you think?