To Suffer For His Sake

 

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority,  or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.  For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.  Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.  Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. (I Peter 2:13-17)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  (Matthew 5:43-48)

I have to tell you, I’m concerned and praying about the next four years. The way I see it, if the Democrats lose, the sort of behavior we’ve seen for the past four years will escalate by at least one order of magnitude. What was 1 will become 10, or 100. And those who voted for Mr. Trump will see his victory as a mandate to push for their most extreme views.

And if Mr. Trump loses, the Democrats will see their victory as a mandate to push their most extreme views, making things far worse than they were under the last Democratic administration. And too many people who voted against Mr. Biden will follow the example set by the Democrats. I hope I’m wrong, but for all the predictions that Mr. Trump won’t step down peacefully, I’m more concerned that those who don’t like Mr. Trump neither concede defeat peacefully nor step up peacefully. In short, I’m not a prophet, but I will be pleasantly surprised if the next four years will be peaceful.

          We need to consider this in light of today’s passage. Peter tells us to submit to human authority – all human authority. That means the parent, the landlord, the boss, the police officer, the mayor, the governor, the judge, and the president. In America, we recognize the right to peacefully protest in a limited manner. We aren’t welcome to protest a police officer giving us orders when he is giving the orders. We can later protest that he did give the orders.

          There is a time for civil disobedience, but it comes when the choice is between violating God’s Word and our consciences – not when we don’t approve of what they do. And if we disobey civilly, we must disobey civilly and be prepared to suffer the consequences… ridicule, fines, imprisonment, or death. No matter who is elected, he will need our prayers. We must never say that wrong is right. We must never stand in agreement with what is contrary to God’s Word, but we do not have the option of behaving as the Democrats have for the past four years.

          I hope I’m wrong, but at this point, I have to says, “Buckle up, folks, it’s going to be a rough ride.” But God is good and He gives grace. There are far worse things that can happen than to suffer for His sake. But we need to be sure we're suffering for His sake, and not our own.