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Enemies and Kings

             I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (I Timothy 2:1-4) 

Sadly, but not surprisingly, I see and listen to people who call themselves Christians calling our those who serve in our government names, calling for their impeachment, and talking about overthrowing the current administration, or (in at least some cases) indulging in homicidal daydreams of what will happen if the government comes after their guns.

That’s not what Scripture teaches. That’s what the world teaches. One of the gun-dream set used to tell me I was too heavenly-minded to be any earthly good. My response was that he needed to watch that he didn’t come so worldly-minded to be any heavenly good.

Scripture tells us that we are to pray for kings and all those in authority. Jesus specifically taught that we should love our enemies and pray for those who mistreat us. That doesn’t mean we don’t seek justice. It does mean that we don’t seek revenge. We don’t retaliate. We don’t gossip. We don’t slander. We don’t disrespect or call names.

It also means we do take the person in question to the Lord. We are free to argue our case against them to get it out of our system, but keep in mind that they and you already have the same accuser standing against them and you, and he knows their sins and yours better than you do. We are free to join David in saying to God, “Shatter their teeth!” But we are not free to do the shattering unless God tells us we must – and then I’d suggest you might want to watch your attitude.

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