This was spelled out for me at a “meet the candidates” gathering in a small town in Arizona. I had always believed that my most important responsibility as a citizen was to vote, but when a candidate for the local school board in a neighboring town shared a different perspective, I knew he was right.

The candidate prefaced this by saying that voting is an important responsibility – He wanted us to vote. (All candidates want votes.) But voting is not the most important responsibility. Our most important responsibility as citizens is to teach the people around us good, right and true principles. 

Good, right and true principles are the ingredients people need to make good choices. We need the people around us to make good choices when they vote, so that we will have good elected officials and good laws. Good government is a big part of what makes a community a good community, and those good choices matter.

We need to teach those around us good principles because we need them to make good choices when they vote, but we also need the people in our communities to make good choices when they:

• dispose of waste
• raise their children
• build their businesses
• drive their cars
• build houses
• build strip malls
• develop goods and services
• support and promote ideas
• support and promote community programs
• set policies and procedures
• design children’s programs
• design transportation routes
• choose books for the schools
• look for solutions to their problems
• educate themselves on the issues
• and spend our tax money.

We need the people around us to make good decisions as they live their lives. Good choices make us good citizens. Good communities are built by one good person after another making one good choice after another.

That means we each need to be able to identify good, right and true principles to follow and promote. That’s not always easy, and so many people are trying to influence us with so many different ideas. Many of these people on all sides of the issues believe that their position is the one that is good and right and true. How can we know? 

We can ask God. And we should ask God. In the Bible it says, “if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…” (James 1:5) These issues are complex, and we need God’s wisdom to sort it all out the right way.

Praying to know what is right and what God would have us follow and promote in our communities is a principle that is tied to our freedom of speech and our moral obligation to do the right thing. When everyone is free to express what they believe to be right, and everyone is morally obligated to identify, believe, follow, promote, act upon, and establish the things that really are right, we have to choose let the right things live and the wrong things die away. We have a moral obligation to share what is right and only believe and accept what is right, so we have a moral obligation to pray to know what is right. With the help of God we can solidify the good and eliminate the things that are not good and not right in our communities. 

Wouldn’t it be great if everyone would agree to follow and promote what the Lord wants and we would always do the right thing the right way? It might make things easier, but that’s not necessary. Any time in history that anyone has prayerfully sought to know and follow God’s will, they have done it while other people were refusing to do things God’s way. God will give instructions about how and when to deal with the opposing voices. Trust Him and let Him lead the way.

It’s time to prayerfully engage, and go and do as the Lord directs. God bless your hometown. And God bless America.