The NYTimes carried a piece over the weekend under the headline:

Social Conservatives, However Reluctant, Are Warming to the Idea of Trump

That means that Trump has become the presumptive Republican nominee essentially without the social conservative vote. That has not happened in my political lifetime. Romney due to his Mormon faith, divided the social conservative vote to some extent, but Trump, with the exception of Falwell, Jr., did without.

Social conservatives, largely Christians, find themselves not just in a minority position, but unable to even play a “spoiler” role. So how is a Christian to react? What is to be our policy positions?

I know that I am struggling with that question. I know that the way back to the position of influence we have enjoyed is through evangelism, not the ballot box. However, that does not relieve me, as a Christian, of my obligation to use my vote and my influence in the manner best suited to my religious devotion in this current election.

I do not have answers at the moment. But my devotion this morning, written by Mark Roberts, gave me a great starting point:

This passage makes me wonder in what ways I have put aside the worship God desires, choosing instead to worship in the ways of my sinful world. What first comes to mind is my tendency to think of a worship service primarily in terms of whether I like it or not. If I enjoy the music, if the sermon speaks to me, then I like the service. Then worship is good. By making myself and my feelings the main purpose of worship, I have bought into the ways of the culture. I have lost touch with the real purpose of worship, which is not my pleasure, but God’s pleasure. The question I should be asking about any worship service is not, “Do I like it?” but rather, “Am I truly worshiping God in this service? Am I giving myself to him? Am I loving him with heart, soul, mind, and strength?” I know I’m not the only one who struggles to make God the true center of worship, because we all live in a culture that places us in the center. So, my idolatrous mountains tell me, “It’s all about you, Mark. You’re the center.” Scripture tells me, “It’s not about you. It’s about God and his purpose. God is the center.

My starting point is to put aside my own thoughts and desires and to think about what is best for God and what is best for the nation.

In light of that I ponder a single question this morning. Jesus said he came not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. We have traditionally focused on having the nation’s laws comport, as much as feasible, with God’s laws, but I wonder if in doing so we have not focused too much on the law and not enough on the fulfillment of it that Christ offered?

Right now I have far more questions than I have answers, but then asking the questions is how we get to the answers.