Honoring our government officials

This week I read something that I didn't particularly like in 1 Peter chapter 2:

Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. (1 Peter 2:13-14 ESV)

I don't like what Peter wrote because it contradicts completely my own fleshly nature which would rather fight most of our government leaders rather than submit to them. Submitting to our governmental leaders, and praying for them, as we are instructed to do in 1 Timothy 2, is certainly not an easy thing to do living in a culture where our government leaders often reject the clear teaching of the Word of God and ridicule those of us who hold to the truth of Scripture. So certainly there must be some exceptions to Peter's command here, right? As it turns out, there are, but probably not nearly as many as we would like or that we think.

Do I only have to be subject to and honor those officials with whom I agree? The word "every" in verse 13 seems to preclude that idea. But surely, I only need to honor those officials who are godly and follow Biblical principles, right? Peter seems to answer that objection a few verses later:

Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. (1 Peter 2:18 ESV)

Obviously I am not saying that we don't have a right, or even an obligation to confront evil when it is promoted by any government official. But what the Bible teaches consistently is that if and when I do that I must do it respectfully and honorably or else I risk damaging my testimony for Jesus. If people are going to dislike me I want it to be because I am committed to follow Jesus, not because of my political opinions.

In this digital age it is particularly easy to be disrespectful of our governmental officials with whom we disagree. It is so easy to post an unflattering image, or re-post untrue information because we failed to take the time to check that it was factual or to post a meme that attributes words to a person that he or she never uttered or to just call people names. And while I am often tempted to do many of those things because I get so mad at what is going on in our country, I need to remember that God holds me to a higher standard.

I think it's also instructive to note that Jesus never spent much time at all arguing with, protesting or confronting government officials, even though many of His followers wanted Him to be that kind of Messiah. I can't believe that if He were on earth today, Jesus would waste much of His time at all posting disparaging comments about political leaders on Facebook. He'd be far to busy praying for them and doing what He could to meet their needs. Maybe we ought to follow His example.

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The Oregon School Shootings

There has been a lot said and written over the last few days about the latest school shooting in Oregon. Much of that discussion has focused on things like gun control and mental health, which is certainly appropriate. But in my opinion that focus fails to really get to the heart of the issue. I'd like to briefly address two of those root problems.

Much of the discussion that I've seen seems to be reluctant to acknowledge that we live in a world where evil exists. But that evil is not just limited to the limited handful of people who engage in such despicable acts. Each and every one of us has a heart problem that God described like this to the prophet Jeremiah:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?(Jeremiah 17:9 ESV)

Certainly there are individuals who suffer from mental illness, and I'm not suggesting that we don't need to do more to identify and treat these people. But at the same time, we need to acknowledge that we all suffer from spiritual illness that is due to our deceitful and desperately sick hearts. And since that is a spiritual problem, it requires a spiritual solution.

The Bible clearly identifies the only solution to our heart problem - faith in Jesus. But, unfortunately as a culture, we've rejected that remedy. Collectively, we've stuck a finger in God's face and told Him we'll do things our way rather than His. We've removed Jesus from our homes and our schools and our courtrooms. And we think that by blithely adding "God bless America" to the end of a speech, that is going to somehow make up for thumbing our noses at God. Given our unashamed disregard for God, the only real surprise is that we don't see many more of these kinds of events. I'm reminded of this warning of God to His people:

Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’”(2 Chronicles 7:22 ESV)

The other issue that gives rise to these kinds of events is a blatant disregard for human life in our culture. As a culture, we not only fail to value the lives of our most vulnerable - the unborn and the aged - but we actually have large numbers of people who argue that it is a good thing to use our tax dollars to support an organization that kills and dismembers unborn children so that their body parts can be sold for a profit. That same disregard for human life carries over to television, movies, and especially video games, where large portions of our society have been desensitized to the taking of human life. So why should we be surprised when we produce people, mostly young men, who have absolutely no regard for human life and who therefore commit these horrific acts?

No laws or programs are going to solve this problem. The only long term solution is to return to God as a country. Earlier I quoted from 2 Chronicles 7. In that same chapter, we find the only remedy to these problems:

if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.(2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV)

Are you being part of the solution by praying to God for His mercy and by asking Him to turn our country from our wicked ways?

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