 By: Kevin SeguinAs I sit in a comfortable cafe writing this, even the earliest polls have yet to close in America. No one reading this needs me to explain all that has happened in the last twelve months leading up to this night. Vitriol, divisiveness, violence, and many more words have been used to characterize this past election cycle. It has been one of the most contentious and controversial elections not only in my lifetime, but perhaps in all of American history. Ultimately though, I am singularly unconcerned with the result. I mean it, I don't care who wins. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, please hear me when I say this because it's not why you think. My indifference is not because I don't have a preferred candidate, I certainly do. It's not because I think individual votes don't count, they certainly do. It's not because I believe a secret cabal of Illuminati-led hooded men run the country behind the scenes, because I don't. It's not even because I'm Canadian and believe that none of this will impact my life, because of course it will. I don't care who wins because I believe in a sovereign God. Now, that's a term that is tossed around so flippantly, and I don't want it to come across as flippant so let me explain. Imagine a world where your candidate loses tonight. Does your mission as a Christian change? Does your sacred, holy responsibility to be a herald of the Good News look any different regardless of who is sitting in the Oval Office? No, it doesn't. As heralds of the Good News of God's grace poured out onto us, given to us freely, we have only one job: get that message out. It really doesn't matter who lives at 24 Sussex or 1500 Pennsylvania, or even 10 Downing. Christians must remember that we are strangers and foreigners in a foreign land that happens to have blessed us with their passport. But our home is not in this world, and we are just waiting for the return of our King. Until then, Jeremiah perhaps said it best, when he recorded a letter sent to a different kind of exile: “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. (Jeremiah 29:4-7 ESV) Now, we can argue and debate until the cows come home (and then we can ask the cows' opinion as well) about what the good of our modern day "city" or nation is. Those are good debates to have, but at the end of the day, all of those discussions fall second to the reason we are all here: the advance of the Gospel and the proclamation of the Good News that we will all celebrate come Christmas Day. Until then, I'll be watching the results roll in and praying for our leaders while praying for our Lord's return. May God bless America.  As a Biblical conservative, a cultural Liberal, a husband, a dad, and a pastor, I want to see the church act differently in the world. My big passion in ministry is to see how believers can bring the Gospel into the world around them while pursuing the lost art of winsomeness. It is what fuels me and drives me to write. Engaging culture with the truth of the Gospel in a way that is winsome, wise, and as Colossians 4:6 directs us: “seasoned with salt.” It’s my hope that what I say here helps you not only in your own faith, but helps you share it more effectively and fruitfully.
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