Pray for Our Country and Its Leaders

DELETE. There goes another negative political e-mail forward.

Do you get tired of all the character assassination that goes along with every election? Why spend time reading something that may not even be true? Sometimes I check the accuracy of a forward I’ve received, and nearly every time I’ve checked, the information has turned out false, so reading it really was a waste of my time. (You can go to a site like snopes.com to see if what you’re sending or receiving is true. Somebody gets paid to check out these things, and you can often get the background of when, where, and how the story originated.)

Out of curiosity, I recently went to the Snopes website and searched for “Sarah Palin.” Just as I suspected, within days of McCain’s announcement of Palin as his running mate, wild stories complete with pictures were circulating on the Internet. It might be somewhat humorous if so many people receiving these emails didn’t believe they were true.

Rumors, especially ugly ones, spread fast. As Christians we need to be careful that we’re not guilty, even unintentionally, of spreading lies about others.

Paul describes what our attitude should be toward our country’s leaders in 1 Timothy 2:1-2; I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

So here’s my plan, and I hope you’ll join me: Every time I receive a forward about a political candidate, I’m going to use the time I would have spent reading that forward to instead pray for our country and its leaders. Regardless of who wins the elections in November, we’re responsible to pray for them, so we might as well start now!