Are you willing to be governed?

 This week's verses are 1 Peter 2:13-15:

Be subject to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, whether to a king as supreme or to governors as those he commissions to punish wrongdoers and praise those who do good. For God wants you to silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. 

  These verses are an extension of the verses we looked at last week. Having told people to watch their impulses, Peter now moves to the big request: "Be obedient to the oppressive occult government that occupies our land, blasphemes our God, and rules with an iron fist." Can you imagine how outrageous that must have sounded? 

Even Jesus' own disciples had a hard time with the idea that he wasn't going to deliver them from Roman oppression. And here Peter is saying that not only are the oppressors not going away, but we're supposed to embrace them and celebrate them!

We have trouble with this even nowadays. We make great displays about how much we want to obey God, and be good citizens, and even make a great show about being patriots. But then when it comes time to pay our taxes, wear a mask, drive the speed limit, or whatever, we make a lot of rebellious noise.

But if we've died to our flesh, do any of those things really matter? Does a dead man care about a curfew? When you're dead and in the grave, are you really going to care about whether people are respecting the constitution, or if they're using a sensitive enough pronoun, or any of that stuff? Then why care now?

When we decide which laws to take seriously, and we start to mock failed leaders or leaders with whom we disagree, we as Christians are no longer defined by Jesus Christ and his love for humanity. Instead we are identified with that issue in people's minds.

That's not to say that we should violate what God has commanded us to do. God's will always overrules what humans tell you to do, even if they're clergy. But if it's something that will go away in this world, what Peter is saying is "let it go for the sake of Christ." We should be focused on serving others and modeling God's kingdom, not trying to be separatists.

It's necessary for us to have a structure of government in order for society to be in order. This was true even in Moses' day. If you think mankind can ever create a kind of libertarian paradise with no war, no police, and no taxes, take a look at any period of anarchy in history and see what developed naturally. It's not pretty.

Peter says that God wants us to silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. In other words, Christians shouldn't be the loud contrary voice in the room over political issues. They shouldn't be the cheering squad only for this or that political party. Doing so allows foolish people to simplify our message into something it isn't. Instead we should be doing good. Not telling other people to do good, but doing it ourselves.

So this is a good time to sit down with God and look at what role you play in the public sphere. Are you willing to be governed? Are you willing to say "OK, sounds legit" to every law on the books that doesn't violate God's commandments? Are you willing to assume the best about any leader in office, even if what you hear on the news doesn't paint them in a good light at all?

We are citizens in a heavenly kingdom. Ultimately that is our primary allegiance. But if we're not willing to submit to an earthly kingdom and its rules, chances are there is something in our character that would resist submitting to that heavenly kingdom too. And if we're not willing to praise our earthly leaders when they do something we don't like, can we really be sure we'd praise God when he does things we don't like?

So sit down before God and ask, "am I willing to be governed?" And if you're not, ask for some help in resolving the things that are holding you back from perfect obedience.