Pray for Leaders for Our Own Sake
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:1-4 ESV
Let’s read this backwards because all of these statements are true, forwards or backwards, but we might miss the point if we read through it too fast.
God our Savior desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Something that is good and pleasing in the sight of God is for us to lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is greatly affected by kings and all who are in high positions, so let’s be thankful for them, come before God on their behalf, pray for them, and beg God for His help and mercy in their life. I urge you to do this!
The more you live for Christ, the more details of daily life get put under consideration. To every one of those details, we have a chance to ask, “Is Jesus the Lord over this idea I have, or not?” and then we can act appropriately. Spiritual growth is simply showing more and more of those things to the Lord and the two of you together considering them.
At OneLife we have a wide range of people. We have Police and felons; we have #BlackLivesMatter people and we have racists. We have passionate advocates and ho hum folks.
We even have a few vegans.
What makes a church the church is that over all of those ideas, passions, movements, and paradigms we join together to say “I want to make Jesus the Lord over that part of my life.” We might not know what that looks like, and we might not even like it for a while, but that’s what submitting to Jesus is all about.
Which brings us to this reading for today. Regardless of what you think or agree with or who you voted for (or if you voted!) we all have the same Mayors, governors, city council, supreme court, President, etc. Paul wrote 1 Timothy between his two major imprisonments. Whatever we think is evil about our “kings and all who are in high positions,” Paul had some that were worse. All of Paul’s rulers were worse!
At the “I Am Second” event with Eric Metaxas in Evansville a while back, the Mayor of Evansville said, “I hear from people almost every day that they are praying for me and my family, and I can’t tell you how much that means to me.” Whoa! That is exciting! What if Christians had that kind of reputation? What if police, politicians, and whatever else are our “kings and rulers” knew “Those are those people that care about me and pray for me every day.”
The next time you see that angry person on TV or Facebook ranting about the government, or if it’s you, pray through these verses.
peaceful
quiet
godly
dignified in every way
pleasing in the sight of God our Savior
Then walk with God and that person and talk, because God wants all of the Us and Them to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.