I DON’T NORMALLY post on Mondays. But tomorrow is Election Day, in what may be one of the most contentious and divisive American presidential races ever. I’m neither a pollster nor a political analyst, and I don’t have some special inside track. But I can make one confident prediction about tomorrow’s results: when the day is over, there are going to be a lot of very unhappy people.

Even within the church.

No, I’m not going to tell you which way to vote, nor am I going to tell you which way I’m going to vote. But I will tell you that I have believing sisters and brothers on both sides of the bipartisan divide. They are people of sincere faith and good conscience, people I could count on if I needed them. Some have strong opinions with which I might disagree. But I would not have any of them dismissed, disrespected, or assumed to be clueless solely on the basis of their political affiliation.

Too often, national politics degenerates into a media circus shrouded in a fog of spin-doctored half-truths. It’s hard to know what to believe out of all of it, and there are never any guarantees about how many campaign promises will actually be kept after the election is over.

But again, here are a few things I do know…

First: not a single one of the candidates is the second coming of Christ. That might sound like an obvious thing to say, and of course I’m exaggerating to make a point. But if we’re honest, we have to admit that even Christians can be tempted to give near religious devotion to a flawed human politician.

Second, and conversely, none of the candidates are the pure embodiment of Satan either, though you might not know it from the derogatory comments that Christians sometimes bandy about. We can be angry, frustrated, or even astonished that candidates stand for what they do — but that doesn’t give us the right to speak of them as if they had a single-minded evil plan to destroy all that is good and holy.

Finally, and most importantly: no matter what happens, God is still sovereign and always will be. I have heard believers say that if this or that candidate wins, they don’t want to live in America anymore — as if, somehow, there might be a place on the map with the name “Promised Land” stamped on it. But can we say such things if we truly believe that God is sovereign? Does God cease to be the ruler of the universe if someone we didn’t vote for occupies the White House? Do we cease to be people who are called to be salt and light wherever we are, whatever the circumstances?

We must prayerfully and humbly vote our conscience; we must do so as citizens of both this country and the kingdom of God. But it is not the job of any president, as president, to enact God’s kingdom directly. That’s Jesus’ job. And until he returns, if you are a follower of Jesus, it’s your job — and not just at the polls. It’s my job. It’s our job together.

Biblically, we are not called by God to be Democrats or Republicans or supporters of any particular party you care to name. We are called to be peacemakers. We are called to seek and embody God’s kingdom. We are to be a people of love and grace and mercy, a people of hope and humility and compassion.

Remember: centuries ago, God’s people lived in Babylonian exile, powerless, homesick, cut off from the land of promise. Naturally, they hated Babylon and wanted revenge.

But what did God tell them to do? Through the prophet Jeremiah, God instructed the people to settle down and make Babylon their home, because by God’s will they were going to be there for a while. In the meantime, they were to commanded to seek the peace, the shalom, of Babylon. This must have been a bitter pill indeed; the people were to seek the wholeness, the prosperity, the good of their most hated enemy (Jer 29:4-7).

Similarly, the apostle Peter referred briefly to Rome as Babylon (1 Pet 5:13) at the end of one of his epistles. Yet he also wrote these words to believers scattered throughout the Roman Empire:

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. (1 Pet 2:11-17, NIV)

Honor the emperor? At the time, that would have been Nero, the one who would later crucify Peter upside-down. If Peter could say these things to those living under the shadow of such a dictator, what would he say to us?

Let us vote as wisely and conscientiously as we can, knowing that there is only one true Sovereign. Let us be respectful, loving people who fear God. Let us live such good lives that even those who don’t believe in Jesus would have to give God the glory when Jesus returns.

Don’t sweat the election; embody the character of Jesus instead.