Submit

DEVOTION

ROMANS

SUBMIT

Rom 13:1-5

13:1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4 For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

NIV

No speeding, no breaking the law, no driving without that seatbelt, and in some places no talking on the cellphone while driving. Those are a few of the laws which govern our driving experiences. Of course we follow them just like we follow all the laws of our land. The problem which exists is we do not know every law which governs our land. But as they say, ignorance of the law is no excuse, just as ignorance of the Almighty God is no excuse. But for the most part we obey the law because we are supposed to. Surely we do not steal, murder, or lie about our taxes or even fudge a little. Because we are God-fearing people, we live under the authority of the government. It is a little funny how we do react when we see a state police car sitting along the highway. Even though we are driving within the speed limit, we slow down, everyone slows down, just in case. It is because of a healthy fear of authority, or just the fact it would be so inconvenient to be stopped, or all the results of being ticketed? Nevertheless God says we should not have any reason to fear the authorities, unless we are doing something wrong. So keep that cruise control set at 70 and wiz on by. It would seem speeding would be the only law we might tend to use a little wiggle room on. Some say five over is even alright. Is it? It is so easy to keep up with everyone else who is doing five over, that we don’t even notice, until we see those squad cars. Well there are other laws, civil laws that seem easy enough to follow. But what about laws of humanity. Although the law of our land give us free speech, it does appear that might be offensive at times. Is that alright for us believers to be offensive in our right to free speech? We don’t think so, even if it is the truth. This applies not just in conversation, but now on all the forms of social media. If we have social media friends who do post offensive speech, do we say something, or just let it fly by? Maybe we should defriend them, or at least block their posts. It would seem some people would try to shut down certain types of free speech, such as sharing the gospel message in the public square, calling it hate speech. But we do have free speech, but let us not be offensive in the use of it. We should stick up for God, however. That might cost us something, as it did Paul on occasion. But it is within the limits of the law, to speak up for God. But what about if our employers have rules against that sort of speech? Then what do we do? God said to obey the authorities. He established them. Are our employers’ part of that system? If we agreed to the terms of employment, then we agreed. So let us just remember we do represent our Lord to the lost and dying world. Let us live as his people in every situation of life, but especially in regard to the law.