photo #7913934

"God, Kings, and Presidents"Note: I posted this when Obama was elected, when Trump was elected, and when Biden was elected. Regretfully, I am compelled to post it again.The Scriptures command us to honor the king, or in our case, the president. Paul wrote to Timothy urging him to pray for kings. Peter insisted that Christians honor their emperor. In light of that the question needs to be asked: Do your facebook posts and political conversations express respect, and honor for the president? Of course you could run the country better. Of course you know better. But God does not give us a pass to disrespect or not love someone just because we know better. He sovereignly and intentionally places every king and president in power. And we have to trust him for that.You do not have to like your leader. You do not have to agree with him either. In fact, you are expected to weigh your actions and words against Scripture so that while you intensely evaluate those in leadership you do not fail to honor and respect them. Otherwise, we bring the condemnation of God upon ourselves. Here’s how the Apostle Paul put it in Romans 13:1,2: “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation..” You may recall that when Paul wrote this Nero was in power.Slander is still slander and gossip is still gossip when spoken against our leadership. And God hates those things with a passion. You may distrust or dislike our current president or our next one, but how you treat them reveals your heart: “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.” (James 1.26).