Be Subject to the Government for the Lord's Sake

Thinking about 1 Peter 2:13-17.

Photo by Quick PS on Unsplash

Why should Christians submit themselves - or be willing to serve their government?

We do it “for the Lord’s sake.”

Be willing to serve the people who have authority in this world. Do this for the Lord. Obey the king, the highest authority. And obey the leaders who are sent by the king. They are sent to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do good. When you do good, you stop ignorant people from saying foolish things about you. This is what God wants. Live like free people, but don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. Live as those who are serving God. Show respect for all people. Love your brothers and sisters in God’s family. Respect God, and honor the king. (1 Peter 2:13-17 - Easy-to-Read Version)

I don’t recommend you use a version of the Bible like the Easy-to-Read Version as your primary study Bible. However, sometimes versions like this can help us understand the “gist” of what’s being said.

I think the Easy-to-Read Version does just that in 1 Peter 2:13-17.

• We must “be willing to serve” the government - why? “For the Lord.”

• Why must we “obey” the king/highest government authority/leaders and “do good”? “This is what God wants.”

• Why must we not use our “freedom as an excuse to do evil”? Because we must “live as those who are serving God.”

There’s a real temptation to “act like a Christian” in most aspects of our life - but if the conversation turns to politics, our “Christianity” goes out the window. Christians can sometimes say some of the nastiest things about their government or leaders.

While we will not always agree with what is being done, and there are legitimate ways to voice our concerns about the direction things are going, Christians ought not to disrespect their nation’s leaders.

We must be shown as different from the rest of the world because we serve a different Master. We must respect even those we disagree with. We must do good, even if people say foolish, evil things about us. We must honor our leaders - even if they don’t think very highly of our faith or the Lord God.

We do all of this “for the Lord’s sake.”

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For those interested, I plan to write a few articles a month in a publication called The Spirit of Congress. I explain a little more about what I plan to do here.

There’s been a lot written about the United State’s Presidents - but not a lot has been written about Congress. And those folks are the ones we, the American people, directly elect.

If we are genuinely concerned about our nation’s direction, we need to be more informed and pay closer attention to Congress.

So anyway, if you’re interested in reading about Congress, finding out how things in Congress work, and people who have served in Congress in the past, subscribe here.

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Being more informed about our government should help Christians positively impact some of the policies put in place in this country.

But even if it doesn’t work out that way, we must still submit and be respectful - for we do it all “for the Lord’s sake.”