In an excellent article for election day, John Piper takes five points from 1 Cor. 7:29–31, applying each of them to voting. These are helpful reminders, especially for those of us who get absorbed with politics at this time of year. I’ve greatly summarized his commentary here–be sure to read the whole thing.
1. “Let those who have wives live as though they had none.”
The outcomes of voting “do not give us the greatest joy when they go our way, and they do not demoralize us when they don’t.”
2. “Let those who mourn [do so] as though they were not mourning.”
“We vote and we lose, or we vote and we win.” In either case, “our expectations and frustrations should be modest.”
3. “Let those who rejoice [do so] as though they were not rejoicing.”
“The very act of voting is a joyful statement that we are not under a tyrant. And there may be happy victories. But the best government we get is a foreshadowing.”
4. “Let those who buy [do so] as though they had no goods.”
“We do not withdraw. We are involved—but politics does not have ultimate weight for us. It is one more stage for acting out the truth that Christ, and not politics, is supreme.”
5. “Let those who deal with the world [do so] as though they had no dealings with it.”
Christians should deal with the world. [Piper cleverly illustrates how even attempted withdrawal is but one way to deal with the world.] We should deal with the candidates and issues, but the “full passions of our heart should be attached to something higher—to Godward purposes.”