People ask me, “What can I do? I’m frustrated. I’m unhappy with the way the country is going. What can I do?”

It doesn’t matter your political affiliation. All concerned are lamenting the end of democracy. Depending on the poll you read, somewhere around 70%-75% of Americans are unhappy with the state of the nation.

What to do?

Seth Godin wrote the other day, “The ocean is made up of drops.”

The idea that you can do something right now—something cataclysmic, remarkable—to change the world by end of business today is a fallacy, a delusion. Not only are most folks not listening, most folks aren’t thinking, and the majority are unmoved unless their hair’s on fire.

You influence others most profoundly by loving them.

So, be a person of love… meaning: Dedicate yourself to relentlessly seek the most redemptive course of action possible.

What does that look like?

Each morning, before you even roll out of bed, pray: “Father, would you live through me today, please? You are the Great Redeemer. I ask that you empower me to live redemptively through the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen.”

What you are asking is that the One who is love, would be love, in you and through you. This is a prayer your heavenly Father answers affirmatively every time you pray it.

Still though, this prayer remains an abstract concept. What does redemption look like?

Today is Tuesday, Election Day. The most redemptive thing you can do today for your fellow man is go vote. Yes, your vote matters for the same reason each drop matters in the ocean. Voting is doing your part before God and others.

While it’s too late to implement for this election cycle, vote on election day, not absentee or during early voting. The easier voting is, the easier it is to skew the vote. So, as inconvenient as voting on Tuesday may be, voting on the actual day is yet another way to make yourself count among your fellow Americans.

Note: The media would have you believe that only Conservatives think election security is in doubt. Baloney! As the mid-terms unfold, Progressives are complaining about voting irregularities just as much as their Conservative counterparts. Anyone with any sense understands that the vote is power. If you want power, you’ve got to win (or control) the vote. If your vote didn’t matter, no one would be concerned.

Second: As the subtitle of my book, Swagger, states, keep your wits about you.

Wits? What are your wits?

By wits, I mean all of who you are—all of who God has made you. He designed you, equipped you, and endowed you to be in this world. He lives in you and fights the good fight. Bring all of you to bear, under the leadership of the Spirit, each day, in every way, to all you encounter.

Let’s be clear: You don’t need your person to win in the mid-terms to truly live. You don’t need your candidate to prevail in order to secure your life, bolster your confidence, help you sleep at night, live your best life, or make your future bright.

Case in point: Your brothers and sisters in the faith who live in Communist China are not wringing their hands in angst because Chairman Xi skewed the Party vote two weeks ago and made himself Chairman for life. The CCP is utterly corrupt and their human rights violations are legendary. With Chairman Xi’s actions at the Party Congress, misery, darkness, and human disregard were secured as long as Xi lives.

So, Believers in China: Will the quality of their lives degrade? You bet. Will their security as Believers be made even more tenuous? You bet. Are their families’ wellbeing jeopardized? You bet. Is their freedom to worship Jesus compromised? You bet. Did life for Christians in China just get dramatically worse last week? You bet.

But here is their reality: This is nothing new for these members of our forever family. All that’s different since the Party Congress is that the status quo has grown darker and more intense.

The Source of these Believer’s security, confidence, and conviction is the same today as it was yesterday. Their prayers are simple: “Father God, you were faithful yesterday. I trust you today as well.”

The difference between what they know and what you know is that they have had a societal gun to their heads for years. They’ve known for decades that the government is not their source. On the other hand, while we have been blessed with great prosperity, freedom, and national security, this tranquility has quite possibly lulled us into a sense that living in a Christian nation means that our nation is heaven on earth and government is God’s provision for us.

Not so. While God establishes government, government is not a substitute for His provision. Government of any sort—Communist, Socialist, Republic, Monarchy, Democratic, Tyrannical, Despotic—cannot provide the essential, existential legitimacy—i.e., I matter—that you must have as a human being.

Scripture declares that God will supply all your needs. There is no verse that says God abdicates His pledge of care to earthly government. Our brothers and sisters in China (and other dark places) understand this. They must. This is part of keeping their wits about them. The question is, do you know this for yourself?

When I say, “Keep your wits about you,” I’m encouraging you to take inventory of all that you are in Christ, all that is yours in Christ, all that you are gifted with as a human being—your talents, skills, intelligence, position, experience, etc.—and focus your full energy to living fully today.

To connect my two points together: What does it look like for you to bring all that you are to bear on regular life today?

There is merit in considering how others live fully as Believers in a dark world—but not so you emulate them, per se, but so that their lives cast a vision of options as you consider what Father God has in mind for you and the way you live.

When you discuss how you represent your heavenly Father in a redemptive manner, what you are asking is what it looks like for you—all of you, just the way He has wired you together, complete with all that composes you (your collective wits)—to live empowered by the Holy Spirit.

“Father God, what does it look like for me to contribute to the world today?”

While I can’t tell you precisely what this looks like for you, I can tell you that unless you’ve been living a life of utter degradation, malfeasance, or disregard for those around you, then what it looks like to live a life empowered by the Holy Spirit is likely not much different than how you have been living.

Living in the power of the Spirit is 100% attitudinal—meaning, it is my motive to let Christ be my life and live His life in me. What this looks like is sometimes observable while being always intentional.

So, pray. Ask Father a prayer like this: “Father, I want you to live through me. Would you please bring thoughts to me, ideas, perspectives, and cast a vision for what living confidently in you looks like? Amen.” Then, trust that the ideas, thoughts, and perspectives that come into your mind is God speaking to you and get after it.

I don’t know what Father will say to you personally. But I know He won’t lament that if only the outcome of the mid-terms had been different, then your life would be more secure, you more confident, or your future brighter. If this was the case, then the folks in China would have zero hope.

In short, millions of Believers around the world live confidently within despotic regimes and sorry circumstances. Their faith bears witness to us that our confidence must not be government.

Simply, it is not possible for government to supply our essential needs. Only God can do that.

Confidence. Security. Hope. Future. These are all yours no matter if your person gets elected or not. These are yours, not because you are an American, but because you are you and you belong to God.

Given this, live! Love! Be a redeemer.

Keep your wits about you.

Two Things