Our Commander In Chief

Do you know who is in control?

Psalm 66:7 For by his great power he rules forever. He watches every movement of the nations; let no rebel rise in defiance.

1 Peter 2:13-17  For the Lord’s sake, respect all human authority, whether the king as head of state, 14 or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.

15 It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. 16 For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. 17 Respect everyone, and love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, and respect the king.

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God was the first authority, he had the power to create and decide what should be and where it should be, it was his choice to put a galaxy over there and a mountain there and where the oceans were going to be. As soon as God created man he shared some of his authority, the organization chart was very simple, God had authority over man and woman and they had authority over the physical creation in the garden. (Genesis 1:28)

Government in its purest sense is supposed to create harmony and unity among us, we have restraints that we submit to in order to keep the peace, so that we can all get along. Of course it isn't a perfect entity, the government is affected by our sinful state and it often fails to make our world a better place.

Hebrews 13:14 For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.

We may not always live in a country that is tolerant of Christian values, but we shouldn't let that get us down, most of world history has proved that government is usually not going to care about such things. If the government moves away from Godly values it shouldn't surprise us or get us down.

The good news is that I don't have to look to the government or any other authority besides God for my joy and peace of mind. The child of God can live through good government or a hostile dictatorship knowing that this is just a stop over on our way to our permanent residence in heaven.

While we are here we need to influence the darkness. It may be with a vote for candidates that promote moral values or for running for public office or it may be to try and persuade law makers to create laws that are in alignment with Biblical values.

Pray for our leaders

1 Timothy 2:1-5 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. 2 Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.

We need to do our part to make the world a better place, if our lives are pleasing to God then they will be appealing to society, if we are caring for others and loving like Jesus did then the world will want to know what makes us different.

Pray for everybody and especially the people that have authority over you, we need to get down on our knees, it's the best way that we can have a positive influence on our culture.

Philippians 2:10 At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

It may not look like it but God is still in control and some day the entire world will bow down to his authority and his children will live in peace and harmony for all of eternity. Until that day comes we need to do all that we can to influence the authorities that we live under for good.