R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Respect.
I bet you already know a lot about respect - you know, realizing that someone is in charge and therefore needs to be listened to and obeyed or maybe it’s just being polite to others and treating them well. Respect for authority is a big part of your life whether you realize it or not…..you respect your parents and grandparents, your teachers, your coaches and so many other adults in your life. And this isn’t just because it’s fun to do. It’s because that’s what the Bible tells us to do!
But, since we are talking about this presidential election coming up. What does the Bible tell us about respecting people in our government? People like the president? Are we supposed to respect the president like we do our parents or teachers? Great question! Let’s look to God’s word to find out what He has to say about it.
Romans 13:1 lays out pretty clearly just WHY and HOW followers of Jesus are supposed to respect the human authority that governs them. Listen… “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.” There is no asteric, that says UNLESS the governing authorities aren’t who you or your parents voted for. No! It says there is NO authority except that which God has established.
And we know this is true because we just talked all about God’s sovereignty in the last episode. So, of course, it’s no surprise that God expects us to honor and respect those that He has put into a place of authority. In other words, we respect the President not only because he has a super important job and we are thankful for that person taking on the job of being in charge of running our country, but we also respect the President because GOD put that person there in that job. So, our respect for God Himself overflows to those He’s put in charge of us. That means no matter who is president or no matter who our teacher is or who our coach is, they must be respected by followers of Christ.
Now, I also have to tell you another piece of respecting human authority or those who God has put in charge over us. We respect them all the way until they ask us to do something that goes against God’s word. Remember our first episode talked about how we are citizens of God’s kingdom first. That’s our MOST important citizenship. And after that we are citizens of our country. So, we respect authority UNLESS they are asking us to do something that goes against what God has told us to do in the Bible.
A great example of this is Daniel. The king who was in authority over Daniel told everyone in the kingdom to bow down and worship the king each day. Well, clearly, God had already given the 10 commandments and said “you shall have no other gods before me.” So, this was directly against God’s word. And Daniel refused to do what the king said. He stayed true to God rather than the king and that was GOOD in this case. That’s what he should have done since he was being asked to do something against God’s word. Do you know what happened next?
Yep, that famous story of Daniel being thrown into the lions den and God closing the mouths of the lions. ALL because Daniel chose to show his respect to God over the human king.
We must remember that we resect human authority that God put in place, but we respect God more than anything or anyone else. So, God’s ways first. Respect human authority second as we are told in Romans 13.
Okay let’s get to talking about this.
1. Why should we respect the President no matter who wins?
2. How should we respond if our president asks us to do something that is opposite from what God tells us to do?
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