From what I can observe as an international student studying in the U.S I can see that many American citizens don’t know just how the U.S impacts the world, economically, militarily, and socially. Many historians would even go so far as to compare the United States to the Roman Empire in terms of influence to the rest of the world. I believe this to be true for many reasons in my own experience and observation.

I would consider myself being raised in a similar manner to the average American growing up. The lack of a quality entertainment industry in many countries has made many young people from all over the world gravitate towards American media, the mecca of popular culture. And so I learnt English and American slang words from watching American shows such as Spongebob Squarepants, Phineas and Ferb, Hannah Montana, and many more. My iPod Touch (also an American product) was also filled with songs from bands such as Fall Out Boy, Green Day, Linkin Park, and more (yes, I had an emo phase, how typically American middle school right?). So, where am I going with this?

The United States of America is undoubtedly a global superpower. The second largest democracy on earth (by population, only behind India), the largest military in the world (by spending, 3 times more than China in 2nd place), and the largest GDP in the world. Therefore, the American elections to decide the executive leader of this Superpower is one of, if not the most, important democratic event in the world, with every election undoubtedly being covered by the news outlets for the whole globe.

We can see throughout history how U.S presidents are able to enact massive change in world events. From Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s involvement in WW2 shifting victory to the allied forces to President Reagan pressuring Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down that wall” in Berlin, even the fact that I, a non U.S citizen can know these presidents and not presidents of other countries, is a testament to how influential America is to world history! It’s really important to the rest of the world what kind of person the U.S president is.

However, as this year’s election is so close and has its controversies and divisiveness as evident from the constantly changing colors of swing states. Us Christians must remember that our main citizenship is not of this world, but in Heaven. “But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phillipians 3:20). We may have our differences in opinion and political ideals, but all of this is temporary when compared to the eternal kingship of Christ, who will reign over us for all eternity.

Therefore, no matter who gets elected this year, we should not hate our neighbors who voted for the other party, or violently protest and claim fraud, but instead pray that whoever is elected in this democratic process will carry out their mandates. Because every leader appointed over us is an extension of God’s command on earth (Romans 13). And don’t forget to remember that if you took part in voting, congratulations, you participated in a major event that will be remembered throughout history!