Instituted by God

“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.” Romans 13:1 (ESV)

As adult citizens of the United States of America we have a right and responsibility to participate in the election of our government representatives. We are expected to cast our vote for each elected official, from those who govern our small towns and largest cities to the President. I believe that, as Christians, we should take that responsibility even more seriously.

Every four years we are bombarded with propaganda and hate speech from both sides. And it only serves to widen the gap between political camps. It seems as if we are all terrified by the possibility that the other candidate will take office and destroy every ideal we have for ourselves and our country. Each party is determined to undo all that the previous party had accomplished, to the detriment of our country.

I vote. I exercise my responsibility to participate in the process. Sometimes the candidate that I endorsed is elected; sometimes not. I accept the result as the voice of the people. But more importantly, I accept it as the will of God.

I know what you’re thinking…. “How can it be God’s will for So-and-so to sit in our country’s highest office?” The simple fact is that God’s plan is about our salvation and not our politics.

Romans 13:1-7 is pretty clear that God establishes the governing authorities!

We don’t like to hear that. We don’t like to give God that much room to operate. We would much rather that He confine Himself to the tiny little boxes we have created in our lives in which we allow Him to work. We become disillusioned because we think we know what God wants; and when His behavior doesn’t fit the picture inside our head we feel lost and abandoned.

The good news is that God is so much bigger than our picture of Him. We should take a clue from the Older Testament, where God raised up enemies to take His people into captivity. He did so, at least in part, to teach them to trust in Him and not in government or so-called deities.

It has always been God’s plan to restore a lost and broken humanity to Himself, and not simply to a better political climate.

Further, we will NEVER be able to legislate Jesus into the hearts and minds of the lost. I don’t understand why we seem to believe that those who support this or that candidate couldn’t possibly be Christians. We win the lost by showing them the love of Christ, not our anger and pettiness.

“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (ESV).

As always, these are the musings of a mindful disciple. Blessings on your week!

Photo by Aaron Kittredge from Pexels