Voting is like marrying and crying and laughing and buying. We should do it, but only as if we were not doing it. That’s because “the present form of this world is passing away” and, in God’s eyes, “the time has grown very short.” Here’s the way Paul puts it:
The appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. (1 Corinthians 7:29-31)
Let’s take these one at a time and compare them to voting.
I knew I liked John Piper. This is a great article. A very concise exposition of how to be in the world without becoming too much a part of it. It clarifies the difference between wants and needs, a clarification much needed in our culture.
“let those who have wives live as though they had none”… Where did St. Paul get his information on women? Try living like that at my house and see what happens.