Peter talks about a subject today that is incredibly unpopular in today's society. Modern man prides himself on being a rebel, a heretic, and disobedient. Question authority! is the modern cry, and it's been that for so long and been repeated so many times that it's grown stale.
You know what is truly revolutionary today? Obedience. Crazy, huh?
Peter tells us to obey. Obey the king. Peter was referring to an incredibly anti-Christian man, who would put thousands of Christians to painful death, including Peter himself. Yet he said obey.
Obey your masters, he says to slaves. Not "slavery is wrong! rise up! overthrow the masters!" Instead, he said "obey."
Obey your husbands, he tells wives. And think about this in light of the slave question for a moment. Does this mean that husbands rule over their wives? Well, in the world Peter was describing, they did, just as kings ruled over kingdoms and masters ruled over slaves. Today, we see things more equitably. No more slaves (legal, anyway. Praying for those trapped in the sex slave industry would not be amiss.) Very few kingdoms. And we see wives more as partners than as subjects to their husbands. But still... we should be obedient to those in authority over us.
What does that mean today? Obey the cops. Obey the president. Obey your boss at work. Obey the traffic light. Obey your parents.
Are there exceptions to these rules? Of course. If the law of the land tells you to turn from Christ, then you must obey God rather than man. If the president tells you to pay for things you morally disagree with, you must follow your conscience. If your boss tells you to break the law, you must follow the law rather than your boss.
But we should still pray for them. We should obey them in all things that do not violate our conscience. We should do everything we can to be submissive to authority. Because, as Peter says clearly, this pleases God.
God, please help me to obey authority, especially when I don't want to.
1 comment:
My favorite of all is, " obey your parents," see this lets me of the hook. My parents have passed away and thus I'm home free.....or am I? Things that your parents taught you living or dead are still in my head and heart. Many times in my life I have wondered what to do in a situation and my father's words would come to mind and help me to do the right thing. And I hope that inspire of my orneriness our two sons have those voices from me in their head and hearts.
Post a Comment