Respect where respect is due

This morning I read from from Romans 13.

1Let 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. 2Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

We all have governing authorities in our lives. From parents, teachers, policepeople, politicians, you name it, and there will be an authority over it.

Even for those who don't know it, or accept it, and a blessing for those who do know it, God is our ultimate authority.

God is the one who puts ALL those other authorities in place. And that is why we need to respect those authorities.

Of course for me at times that proves a bit of a hardship.

I'm not talking about paying taxes...that I do. I think, like most, that we pay too much since the government does tend to waste a lot of it. But I pay them because someone has to run things lest anarchy rule (and I really ain't for that!)

But when governments make rules that are anti-Biblical, anti-God's plan for our lives. That's where I run into problems. How do I continue to respect/honour the government (other than the continued payment of my taxes) that does such things???

How do I react to foreign governments who are run by peoples who have a different faith system worship a false god who would hurt me and mine because I believe in the true God?

What does God's word have to say?

Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

All I can do is do what is Good. And how do I know what is good?
Through diligent study of God's word. Through the not neglecting to worship with other Christians. Through attending bible studies and prayer meetings and using the gift of discernment that God has given me. This is how I know what is good.

I find it hard sometimes that people do things in the name of Christ that in retrospect sully his name. Those people I find hard to respect. To those people, truly does God's sword have a answer for them. I just hate being caught in the cross-fire! You know, one Christian calls a gay or lesbian hurtful things, and it makes MY ministry or association with them suspect. One Christian (or supposedly Christian nation) does things in the world at large that perhaps they shouldn't do and now all "Christian" nations are suspect.

I don't like the guilt by association. It makes it harder for me to actively proclaim who I am because when I do.... I have to fight all the prejudices that people have gotten through the years because of other Christians not properly using God's gift of discernment, and lack of response to the Holy Spirit's guidance and the lack of doing "good" that God commands us to do.

But regardless of it all... I must be in subjection for that is how I avoid God's wrath but also know that I am doing what I must. I am doing "good" so I can avoid God's wrath being meted out to me through a government that he has put in place. Makes the job tough at times, but doesn't change what is to be.

Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honour to whom honour is owed.