OUR LOCAL CANDIDATES ARE ANSWERING THE CALL TO SERVE

Too many good people today disqualify themselves from serving in public office- e.g.”I am not trained for this”, “I don’t have time”, “I don’t like politics”, etc. But it is interesting to see whom God has regularly chosen for leaders.

As Benjamin Franklin noted: “It is observable that God has often called men to places of dignity and honor, when they have been busy in the honest employment of their vocation. Saul was seeking his father’s [cattle], and David keeping his father’s sheep, when called to the kingdom. The shepherds were feeding their flocks when they had a glorious revelation. God called the four Apostles from their fishery, and Matthew from the receipt of customs; Amos from among the herdsman of Tekoah, Moses from keeping Jethro’s sheep, Gideon from the threshing floor….God never encourages idleness and despises not persons in the meanest employments [i.e., simplest vocations].”

Simple, busy, hard-working, common individuals were chosen by God for public service rather than glamorous, credentialed, and pedigreed ones.

Significantly, the Founders held that if a good person was asked by others to serve them in public office then that individual was not at liberty to refuse the request. As explained by Declaration signer Benjamin Rush: “He [a citizen] must love private life, but he must decline no station, however public or responsible it may be, when called to it by the suffrages [votes] of his fellow citizens.”

Why was a citizen not allowed to decline a request to serve in office? Because as Rush explained, “None…liveth to himself” (Romans 14:7), and our life “is not our own property; all its fruits of wisdom and experience belong to the public.” In his view, God placed us here to serve others, and if others asked us to help them by entering public office then we were not at liberty to place our own personal desires above the call to serve. Very simply, it was selfish to say NO.

I am thankful for the sacrifice the candidates below have made by saying, YES to serving others.
Byron Donalds, candidate for the Florida House of Representatives – District 80 https://www.facebook.com/groups/byrondonalds4congress/
http://byrondonalds.com/

Steve Vernon candidate for the Florida House of Representatives, District 73
https://www.facebook.com/Vote4Vernon/?fref=ts
http://www.Vote4VernonFlorida.com/

Lee Dixon, candidate for Collier School Board District 4
https://www.facebook.com/LeeDixon2016/?fref=ts
http://www.leedixon2016.com/home.html

Carmen Salomé, candidate for Lee County Supervisor of Elections
https://www.facebook.com/CarmenSalomeForSupervisorofElections/?fref=ts
http://www.carmensalome.com/

Source of this article: U-TURN by George Barna and David Barton