Obeying the Government

 

“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities…”

—Romans 13:1a

Must we always obey the government? That’s a tough question. It seems particularly tough for me over the last eight years where I agreed with virtually nothing that the previous government did. But, as a Christian, what is my responsibility when it comes to obeying the government?

The Apostle Paul gives a truthful, but very difficult to swallow, answer in Romans 13:1:

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

I want to shout, “But, Paul, you don’t live under the kind of anti-Christian, increasingly liberal government that we have had in recent years!” And then, I realize that the government under which Paul lived was a far more repressive and evil government than the one under which we live. So, what gives? How can Paul make this statement?

I really don’t have an easy answer. But, I do know that Scripture tells us to pray for those in authority over us and to subject ourselves to those in authority because God has placed them in that position.

This is a question that cannot be solved in a simple blog post. But, at the very least, we can probably agree that we must pray for our leaders. We must ask God to overtake their minds and hearts and point them toward His righteousness.

Only then can we breathe a sigh of relief that we have done what’s right in God’s eyes with respect to the governing authorities. Frankly, at least at the moment, I don’t like it. But, I know it’s the right thing to do!

 

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