“Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; they are God's emissaries for keeping order. It is God's will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you're a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government.”
1 Peter 2:16 (MSG)
Love your family...Revere God...Respect the government...
Pretty solid advice from a man who was in and out of prison, left his business to follow a teacher and helped to organize a band of misfits in a new religious order...Oh, and he was also the one that Jesus said would hold the keys to the kingdom and he would be the rock on which the church would be built.
Peter's advice to all of us is central to the world trusting us and our faith.
The love we show those around us will reflect the love we can extend to those we do not know. Sometimes it is hardest to love those you know the best, because you know all of their flaws and they have likely hurt you the most. But, if we cannot love those who are at the center of our lives, how can we truly love those we do not know? Loving your "spiritual family" is a key component to the world trusting in the love God has to offer.
To revere God is to hold Him in high esteem. God is God. Although we talk to Him and have a personal one-on-one relationship with Him, we must always remember that He is the Master of the universe. He controls all things and He created all things. The respect we show to God will spill over into the respect we have for others and for ourselves because we are creations of the Master. In respecting God, we are called to respect all that He created.
Respecting God and His creation includes the governments under which He has placed us. As citizens of this country, this state and this community, we may not always like how "things are done" but God has put us under this specific authority for a purpose. Until God is ready to release us from this authority, we are called to respect the government and the rules and laws which it instates.
Out of our deep love for God, our love for our spiritual family, our reverence for God and our respect for the government should be a natural outgrowth. By focusing first on our love of God, we will naturally treat others with the dignity and respect God asks of us and in turn, "cure the ignorance of the fools." Now that is a mission we can all get behind.
Scripture
Quote of the Day
Ignorance is not innocence but sin.
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