Self or God...who gets your vote?

Election time in Alabama!  I love election time!  People who don't care one thing about politics for 3 years now try to sound like Walter Cronkite as the voting day approaches, breaking down the voting records and backers of each candidate. 

(If you are too young to know who Cronkite was, just take it from me...he was THE MAN!)  Google him.

Everyone is all of a sudden an expert on the way things run around the statehouse and capitol...like they have been taking their lunch breaks and scurrying downtown to eat their ham and cheese while observing the inner workings and backroom dealings of the political landscape. It often becomes more about who you are NOT voting for, as opposed to who you ARE voting for. 


Enter:  the ridiculous world of Political Media Advertisements!  Wow are these commercials awful.  Every candidate around here apparently owns and rides a horse, has a family with surgically implanted smiles, and they all hate Nancy Pelosi!!!  Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Communists, Fascists, Christians, Catholics, Puritans, Amish, Quakers....every group around is running from the name Pelosi like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!  Hilarious!

But I digress.

For Governor this year we have Ron Sparks vs. Dr. Robert Bentley.  He had his name officially and legally changed to "Doctor" Robert Bentley.  How do I know?

"Just Ron" Sparks told me.

In a political ad for the ages, Sparks spends his supporters' money and my precious time telling me that Robert Bentley had his name changed to Doctor Robert Bentley.  But he has never changed his name.  No Sirreee.  He is Just Ron.

Therefore, I should vote for him....not based on political views and platforms, but because he is Just Ron?  This made me chuckle...alone in my car while driving to work this morning.  And I am not a chuckler.  Laugher, yes; Giggler, sometimes; Chuckler, no.

WHO CARES IF HIS NAME IS WIDGIE RATTLEBONES AS LONG AS HE IS THE BEST MAN FOR THE JOB!?!?!  It doesn't matter to me if he has had his name changed 8 times for every job he ever had.  "Shopping-Cart Wrangler" Robert Bentley would still get my vote if he was most qualified.

Sparks doesn't go on to tell anything about his beliefs/plans for the future of our State.  I should vote for him simply because he is "Just Ron."

But wait...Don't I do the same thing? 

While I don't waste other people's money making poorly executed commercials, I do try whatever I can to make people like me. Pick Me!  Choose Me!  I am Cool!  I am Funny!  Love Me!  Don't pay attention to any real substance!  Like me!

I find myself living life like an actor.  I give off certain vibes and attempt to manipulate those around me all day, everyday. 

But what is MY platform?  What are the basic beliefs I have about life?  What is my agenda?  Unfortunately, it is often not what it should be.  I have noticed that I try to practice what the Apostle Paul tells us about becoming relatable to all different kinds of people.  But instead of doing it for HIS glory, I do it for mine.  In doing so, I have watered down who I am as a Child of the King in order to appear just like an unbeliever.  Not to win them.  But to fit in. 

We, as followers of Christ, have to be careful that we don't try to be relevant and popular in this world for our own good.  Such a fine line at times.

MY AGENDA NEEDS TO BE JOHN 3:30: "He must increase, but I must decrease."

MY PLATFORM SHOULD BE HIS HOLY WORD.

MY MESSAGE FOR ALL TO HEAR SHOULD BE THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL OF A CRUCIFIED AND RISEN CHRIST UPON WHICH ALL ELSE CENTERS.

My name, fame, and desires are not important. 
My personal agenda- meaningless.

Don't pick me!  PICK GOD!