Don’t you just love election day?  No more campaign mailers falling out of your mailbox, or littering your neighborhood.  No more radio ads of candidates bashing one another. Ahh…. But election day isn’t really over. 

Oh, the national, state, and local elections are over, but the day to day election is not.  What am I talking about?

On election day we cast a ballot for the person(s) we want to take the reins of leadership in our community, state, or nation.  We elect those who will make the important decisions that affect our lives. But every day that you wake up you do the same thing.  Every day that you wake up you cast a ballot for the one you want to take the reins of leadership for your life for that day. Every day you get to choose who will make the important decisions that affect your life that day…and in the future.

This is the core idea behind Jesus comments about the “kingdom of heaven.”  A kingdom is the place where the king is making the decisions. This is also what Jesus was talking about when he said, “If anyone would come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.”  He was saying that we have a choice about who will be our leader. It could be our heavenly Father. Or it could be ourselves.

We regularly face decisions about relationships, priorities, finances, careers, ethics, family, and more.  We can cast a ballot for ourselves, in which case, it’s all about me, my agenda, my appetites, my priorities, and my self-actualization.  OR, we can cast a ballot for Jesus. In this case, it’s all about Jesus, his agenda, his desires, his priorities, and his mission.

Remember the movie, “Ground Hog Day”?  Every day started the same. When you wake up tomorrow, imagine that election day is like that.  Every day is another election day. Every day is a chance to decide who will have the reins of leadership in your life.  Who will make the important decisions that affect your life? Whose agenda will set the tone?

You can consider this blog post the “campaign ad in your mailbox.”  Jesus is campaigning for your vote. How will you cast your ballot?

-Pastor Mark