Monthly Archives: February 2013

A Quiet Life

Posted on by under Christian Living

quiet lifeIn this day and age we see and hear much on the TV, the radio, and on the internet regarding our political leaders on both sides of the aisle. Most of the time, the information is a negative comment or complaint about one party or the other. While our politicians may leave much to be desired and give us many opportunities to complain, the question we should ask is are we praying for these people?

To understand why we should pray for them we should look into God’s word. Paul writes that we are to pray for all men, but then calls special attention to kings and all who are in positions of authority (1 Timothy 2:1-2). God’s divine directions are that we are to pray for our leaders. The admonition to pray for all men (1 Tim 2:1) and to pray for our enemies (Mat. 5:44) would mean that we are to pray for those politicians that we do not agree with as well. This may seem like a hard thing to do, but as with all of God’s commands there is a purpose to this instruction.

We are to pray that our leaders will follow God’s plan so that we may live a quiet and peaceable life (1 Tim. 2:2). We may think that we have extraordinarily bad rulers, and that there is no way that we can pray for immoral leaders. However, consider that Paul is writing to Timothy at the time of the Roman Empire, which reached new heights of decadence, idolatry, and immoral living.

If Paul, Timothy, and those first century Christians could pray for the Roman Emperors, certainly we can do the same for our leaders today. If we want our leadership to improve, if we truly want to live a quiet life at peace with those around us, then the solution needs to start with each of us doing our part to pray for all leaders.

Obedience Trumps Sacrifice

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Image          Many times we may come up with our own ideas about what we think would be a good sacrifice to make for God.  It may be that we want to build a great cathedral.  Perhaps we think that giving up something that we like to eat for a certain time period would be a good sacrifice to make for God.  Is this what God wants us to do?  Does He want us to try to figure out what to do on our own?

            In the Old Testament we have an account about King Saul that gives us some insight into this question (1 Samuel 15:1-31).  In this narrative, Saul is returning from defeating the Amalekites, and he and the people have planned to make a sacrifice to the Lord.  For this reason they have not destroyed the best of the sheep and oxen, but have instead brought them back with them (vv. 9, 15).  As Saul encounters Samuel along the way, he is very happy with himself for coming up with this grand idea.  However, God is not pleased with Saul.  Samuel points out to him that he has not followed the commandment of God.  Saul was commanded to destroy everything that the Amalekites had (v. 3).  They were not supposed to bring anything back with them.  Yet Saul has not carried out this command given to him by God, and God is not pleased.  Samuel instructs Saul that God does not delight in sacrifices as He does in obedience, for it is better to obey than to make sacrifice (v. 22).

            We should heed the words of the prophet as well and realize that what God wants from us more than anything is our obedience to His word.  We can say that we believe in God and then go our own way and not obey His commands.  However, if we do not obey, then we do not truly believe.  No matter what sacrifice we may think is appropriate for God, this account clearly shows that obedience to God trumps what we think we can sacrifice for Him.

Who Do You Love?

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            Suppose that someone were to ask the question, who do you love?  What would our answer be?  Who would be at the top of our list?  Most likely those we would think of first would be the people who love us in return.  Hopefully God would be at the top of that list as well.  But would any of us have mentioned people who openly hate us?  If we are being honest, probably not many of us would have answered that way.

            Let us consider for a moment what is written for our learning in Romans 5:6-11.  In this passage we are reminded that when we were without strength, when we were unrighteous, when we were yet sinners, and when we were enemies of God, He sent His only Son to die on the cross for us.  Imagine sending your only child to die for the benefit of people that hate you.  Could you do it?  This passage says “but God” showed His love for us by sending Christ to die for our sins while we were less than unworthy (v. 8).

            If we only love those who love us, we are no better than the heathen (Matthew 5:46-47).  Instead Jesus encourages us to love our enemies and to strive to do good to all men.  If we would be willing to share the good news of the gospel with anyone, no matter if they love us or hate us, what better way could there be to show our love and concern for them and their eternal soul?