How I’m praying about elections in Zimbabwe

I love my country, Zimbabwe, which is full of peaceful, loving, and hardworking citizens. Tomorrow, Aug. 23, presidential and local elections will be held in our nation, following a campaign period that included some negative, hateful speech and actions.

For me, prayer is an important part of preparing for this important task. This includes affirming that God is our collective Father and blesses all of His children through Christ, God’s message of love for all.

The phrase “one man, one vote” has recently gotten me thinking more deeply about what “man” is. The spiritual, unchanging fact is that man – which includes each of us, as God’s child – is made in the image and likeness of God, who blessed us and commanded, “Be fruitful” (Genesis 1:28).

Exploring more about this God-created man can provide for us a new basis upon which to reason. Mary Baker Eddy, spiritual thinker and founder of the worldwide Church of Christ, Scientist, wrote, “Man is not God, but like a ray of light which comes from the sun, man, the outcome of God, reflects God” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 250).

The Apostle Paul described the nature of man when he wrote of the “fruit of the Spirit” as “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22, 23). God, being infinite, does not include any conflicting elements in His immutable nature, and because of that, peace has nothing to oppose it.

And God’s man is not defined as belonging only to a certain tribe or clan, economic demographic, political party, or nationality. God’s man is entirely spiritual, and God’s law of peace and harmony is universal. When our goal is to understand and live our true nature as God’s child, we are demonstrating Christian values and the scope of divine governance. We are embracing God’s perfect, immutable law, which is written in every heart.

This unlocks the way to experience that peace and harmony more on an individual, family, and even larger level. It enables us to trust in the Christly promise of, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10) – of God’s will of goodness for all, including the people of Zimbabwe and everywhere. There is no other power or presence than God, nothing that can defeat or steal the purity of the divine will or influence the only true God to be anything less than good.

I have also found inspiration in the Bible story of King Solomon, who expressed some marvelous qualities, such as fairness and peacefulness. God, our divine Parent, is the source of such attributes, and we can pray to know that our next leaders and government, too, are inherently capable of expressing lovely, God-given attributes, as we all are.

Mrs. Eddy noted, “It is safe to leave with God the government of man. He appoints and He anoints His Truth-bearers, and God is their sure defense and refuge” (“Retrospection and Introspection,” pp. 90-91). The crown of creation is the fruit of God’s goodness. Man cannot be unlike his source. Out of infinite goodness, evil cannot be issued.

There is great strength behind motives and actions that are right with God and with one’s neighbor. Let us pray collectively to bear witness to the spiritual character of man – the outcome of God, divine Love – who is fully able to walk with God “in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart” (I Kings 3:6). In this way we can contribute to the fuller manifestation of God’s government, right here on earth.