Today and Tomorrow

Two Hats

The debate over the direction the United States should take in both internal and international affairs is one every Christian should think seriously about. We are called to be light and salt in the world as we represent Jesus who is the Light. That means that in significant ways we should act like Jesus and live by the principles that he lived by.

One of those principles is righteousness. Another is love. Another is selflessness. 

It is not an understatement that we all struggle at times with living those out. Personally, our flesh wars against the Spirit as Paul said in  Romans 7.  

But we also wear another hat. We are not only citizens of the Kingdom of God but citizens of some kingdom here on earth. That means we have a responsibility to both God and God’s kingdom and to the governors God ordains to serve the citizens of that earthly kingdom. (Romans 13) Those two roles sometimes are hard to live out in the messiness that characterizes every kingdom in this world.

Paul gives us a beginning point in 1st Timothy 2. It is to pray for those in authority over us and to pray for peace.

Paul wrote that at the very time his own life was in danger from the Roman authority over him. He did so because he had a longer view than that moment. He was looking into the future and asking God for peace that the gospel might be proclaimed unhindered in  an climate of peace.

We are in a climate of contention at the moment. It may seem like we must fight to win righteousness, love, and charity for our fellow citizens and for those who are citizens with us in the community of the world. And it may be that we must, for whether in our nation or the community of the world, there are those who suffer injustice who must be protected and there are those in need who need our love. BUT FIRST WE MUST PRAY.

We must allow God to inhabit our prayers so that we pray his will and not ours. We must pray for guidance in  how we are to play our role as citizens of the Kingdom of God and citizens of the earthly kingdom of which we are also citizens and the community of the nations of the world to which we belong.

We cannot follow Jesus is isolation from the affairs around us. We must be righteous, full of charity, and selfless in every circumstance we find ourselves.