Do Well!

Do Well!

I Peter 2:15-16 NKJV:
For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.

If the verses before these ones quoted above are read, a dilemma comes up: do I obey every authority, Godly or otherwise? Can I make a choice as to which kind of authority to obey? If I know that my rulers are not Godly, can I, out of conscience's sake, refuse to submit to them, claiming that I submit to a higher authority? These are questions that have agitated the minds of many of us, especially in a community where authority is godless, directionless and immoral. Still God speaks on this matter and says: Submit to all authority. God's Word makes an assertion in the verses before these ones above, and it is that all authorites are instituted by Him. What this means is that nobody rises to authority or kingship without God's knowledge and permission. Our role here is is to submit to their authority.

Submission, however is not docility or complicity in permitting evil to thrive and go on unchallenged. Evil is to be resisted in any guise or form or in any personality in which it is seen. God expects that as his earthly representatives and ambassadors, we promote his grace, power, love and mercy to everyone. We do not fold our hands and watch evil thrive; the bit we can do, we do, trusting God that He will take care of us.
God has called us to be free; not free from authority, but free from the bondage of the devil; not free from obeying other authorities, but free to obey all within the bounds of God's law, trusting God that as we do this, our lives will reflect God's power and will speak to others.

It is amazing how much of the standards of God's Word people know. They cannot and will not obey God, but they surely will hold any 'Christian' accountable to his confession. If I claim to know Christ, then my conversation, company and conduct must show that I am of a different stock. Reflect on this: Slaves do not have a choice in the instructions they obey. They do not analyse the boss' instructions and choose the ones to obey. If we are slaves or bondservants of God, then, according to these verses, we do not choose what to do; we do as we have been told. Only then can the Master be glad with our service and our lives' light can shine for the entire world to see. May God find us worthy of being his light and life in this dark, dying world. May our lives be examples of obedience and grace; lives that know when to speak and act and when not to say or do anything. May God be continually glorified in us, as we submit to authorities instituted by Him. God's time of favour is here.