Thursday, July 28, 2011

Quiet in the USA

I Pet 2:13-17 "Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men - as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king."

Right now the government is infuriating. These men and women who allegedly represent us, can't get their heads together to figure out what to do as it relates to our indebtedness. We are spending 1.4 trillion dollars more than we take in every year, and this is not stopping. It is so bad, we have to raise the debt ceiling so we can continue to borrow more money. This is insanity. We shouldn't be raising the debt ceiling we should be lowering it! We should be spending less money. Yet, our world is so upside down that Moody's and Standard & Poors indicate that they are going to lower our credit rating if we don't agree to borrow more money that we are unable to pay back! Does anyone have a brain? Sometimes I want to start a movement called: AIO…All Incumbents Out.

Yet, scripture tells us to submit ourselves to every ordinance of man, to the king and to governors. We are to honor the king. These were not hollow words that Peter was writing to these persecuted Christians. The reason these people had lost their homes and their livelihoods was because of the government. Nero had burned down Rome and blamed it on the Christians and they were taking the heat over it. (So to speak.) They were being persecuted because of what the government had done! They were being persecuted, killed and maimed and homeless…by the government. And Peter said to submit themselves to these clowns? Yes. But, Peter did outline government's role. To punish evildoers and praise those who do good. I have a feeling that maybe some people in the church wanted to take revenge. Some may have wanted to strike back and Peter said that they should not use their freedom in Christ to bring injury to others. That is what was to be punished. Instead, in the middle of all of the chaos that surrounded them they were to do good. They were to be examples. They were honor all people, love each other, fear God and honor the king. By doing this they would shut people's mouths.

I think of all of the chaos that is surrounding this country right now. We have the debt issue going on. We have several wars going on. We have people pushing for homosexual marriage. We have abortion still freely available. We have a widening gap between those who have and those who have need. We have Christians who are being fired from their jobs because they are taking a stand for the truth. Unfortunately, I don't think it is going to get much better. Frankly, this country is a mess. Yet, as believers, we are called do good. Kicked in the teeth? Do good. Ridiculed because of what you believe? Do good. Eliminated from positions because of the truth? Do good. Do good and you will silence the ignorance of foolish men. May it be very quiet in this country.

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