Christians have a civic responsibility since we are both citizens of heaven and citizens of earth. Unfortunately, many Christians do not seem to understand that good citizenship involves voting intelligently in each election.

Last week, I had Ralph Reed on my radio program to talk about some of the important races around the country. Then I asked him to give us the bad news about how many Christians actually voted. No doubt you have heard the statistics in the past. Let me update the latest numbers from the last election.

In 2012 there were about 31 million self-identified born-again Christians who voted in the election. That represented about one-fourth of the total 131 million votes cast. That also means that about 17 million born-again Christians did not vote in that presidential election. About 9 million were registered to vote, but did not vote. And another 8 million were not registered to vote.

Think about what a difference those 17 million votes might have made in the election. Moreover, those Christians were not being good stewards of an opportunity few Christians have had in the past. We have the privilege of electing our leaders.

In the New Testament, Jesus says we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-16). We have a stewardship responsibility when it comes to using our gifts, talents, and opportunities. Jesus also described the importance of this stewardship in His parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). He was critical of the one servant who buried his talent (Matthew 25:26). We as voters should not “bury our talent” but use the opportunity God has given us to vote responsibly.

We also need to educate ourselves about the candidates and the issues. At Point of View we have our “Pray, Organize, Vote” election resources. There are articles, videos, and a link to an extensive list of voter guides from various groups. You can learn the congressional votes of incumbents and see how candidates have answered surveys and questionnaires.

You need to take advantage of these resources so that you can cast an intelligent vote in November.