the National D-Day Memorial
During the Constitutional Convention, President George Washington sat in a chair known as "The Rising Sun Chair." A depiction of the sun was carved into the back of this chair. Legend has it that when the president stood, revealing the image of the sun Benjamin Franklin asked if this represented the rising sun or the setting sun with regard to the fledgling American democracy.
A friend referred to this story this morning when she saw the flag photo I took at the National D-Day Memorial (seen above). Another friend of mine joined the "Barack Obama is not my president" group on Facebook this morning. The combination of these two things this morning formed a catalyst to my thinking regarding the recent election.
It is clear that I did not vote for Barack Obama. I have strong disagreements with him on myriad issues. I am very concerned about the future of our country.
But if I refuse to recognize him as my president, I am contributing to a spirit that could destroy our nation.
May God grant us each the grace to recognize that God has placed a new leader over our nation and fall into the appropriate position of submission to this God-ordained authority. We live in a free nation that allows us the right to disagree vocally with our president, and I plan to do so if he does things I disagree with. But he is still my president and deserves the respect that is inherent with the office.
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
—Romans 13:1–12
Richard, I am in complete agreement with your wise post and blessed and encouraged by the accompanying scripture. Thank you and have a happy weekend. Peggy
ReplyDeleteI am very much in agreement with your blog post. I am very convinced that we as American Christians must stop spending an inordinate amount of energy to produce a "more perfect union," although certainly as citizens, that is one of our responsibilities. However, as citizens of a country "not made with hands", we must really get back to building the eternal kingdom. I think we have been distracted by the cares of this world from our primary mission -- to make dsiciples.
ReplyDeleteI read today from one of my favorite passages, Acts 5. The apostles were busy preaching the gospel (not temple reform, by the way). They were jailed, then released by the Lord. When the Sanhedrin sent for them and found that they were back in the Temple telling the good news of Jesus Christ to the masses, they were astonished. "Didn't we tell you not to do anything in that name again?" Peter replied, "We ought to obey God rather than man."
Peter was saying that they were doing exactly what God told them to do. The reason for their civil disobedience was because it had an eternal consequence, not a temporal one. They weren't hoping to overthrow the evil and oppressive government under which they lived. They were hoping to please the Lord by obeying His command to make disciples.
And when they were flogged -- this is one of my favorite verses -- it says they rejoiced because they were counted worthy to suffer for His name. WOW!! What would America be if Evangelicals began evangelizing, and were to suffer for sharing the gospel. What if we began to have a compassion that constrained us to warn others of the coming terror instead of displaying a heart of condemnation. What if we lived in the age of grace with the knowledge that one day we WILL have the authority to judge the world.
I hope that these next four to eight years bring us to our knees for the lost of the world and bring a renewed fervor to us to become the laborers that God will send for the harvest.
Good thoughts, both from Rich and his readers. I agree with Mary that the church has become distracted from our primary position of reaching people for Christ. Even Jesus did not come to overthrow governments, but to reach out to the individual, and He commanded us to go and do likewise.
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