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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for collecting daily manna), make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Saturday, June 10, 2017
Today's Passage : Today's Passage: Subject: Submission to Authority Bible Verse: 1 Peter 2:13-17 "Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor." Message:
aving shown us that we are a “royal priesthood and a holy nation” and should therefore live our lives as examples to non-believers, Peter begins a section of difficult lessons. Here he tells us to be subject to the laws of the civil authority. We do not need to do this for our own salvation, but rather, in our role as disciples. Specifically, to avoid giving foolish people — atheists, Wiccans, and all the varieties of people who have not found Christ — fuel to criticize us and thus bring Christ’s name into bad repute.
This is fine and good, we think, when the government is good. But do we really have to obey a government that is evil, corrupt, immoral?
The answer to this question lies in the circumstances under which Peter wrote this epistle. The “emperor” whom Peter tells the exiled Christians to honor was one of the wickedest men who ever ruled: Nero. The emperors of Rome during this time exiled, suppressed, tortured, and murdered Jews and Christians by the thousands.
But nevertheless, we are free. We can live by our conscience (as long as we do not use our faith to cover up evil). To honor the emperor does not mean to act contrary to our morals.
The most shining example is our very profession of belief in Christ. At several times during this period, Roman authorities ordered Christians to stop worshipping, and to swear against their beliefs, on pain of death; and many disobeyed the law and were killed. They did not call the emperor foul names, curse the government of Rome, or start a revolution. They continued to honor the civil authority even as they refused to follow a wicked law.
This is the model for all Christians to follow. Hopefully we will not be called upon to die for our faith! But we can always live for our faith, and the kinds of disputes and pridefulness that come with too much faith in the governments of this world will always take away from our effectiveness as Christ’s disciples. If we profess Christ openly, we must lead honorable lives and not make enemies in worldly disputes — in this case, political enemies. For if we do, they become enemies of Christ as well.
Meditation : Prayer : May the Passion of Christ be ever in my heart. May your law and your goodness guide my every thought, O Lord. And may the power of your Holy Spirit flow through my words and my actions today, and always. Amen. |
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