My morning time was in 1 Peter 2:13-17. A very timely passage if you ask me for Presidents’ Day. Peter is writing this section for the Gentile Christians who are under the Roman government. It’s teaching them to show proper submission to the government while living for Jesus. Back in Peter’s time there were zealous Jews who would not recognize a king and wouldn’t pay taxes. Peter is saying, no, let’s live this way.

Here is the passage:

“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.”

1 Peter 2:13-17 NIV

There are a couple of things I really enjoyed from this.

1. When it talks in verse 14, “who are sent by him...”. This him is God. Our leaders are sent by God and if they are sent by God they are sent for a reason because He has a reason for all things in His plan. Here it states that Governments are sent by God for punishment of evildoers and for the recognition of those who do good. (BLB). We see this over and over again in the Old Testament.

2. Doing good should silence. In verse 15 Peter talks about God’s will for our lives and that is to do good. Why? Because doing good silences the ignorant talk. Or in other words, our conduct is a way to defend the Gospel. Peter knew that those who never read the Bible will read our lives. (BLB)

3. Lastly, our freedom in Jesus is not an excuse for sin. Verse 16 states this simple fact. We are to live as free people because that is exactly what we are. We are free in Christ. BUT we do not use this freedom to cover up our evil, or to cover up our sin. In fact we live our lives as slaves to our Heavenly Father. It seems odd to talk about freedom and slavery as being the same. But we are all slaves to something. Whether our jobs, our desires or ourselves. Jesus gives us true freedom from the bondage of sin and self. So we live completely for him.

To finish this out in verse 17 it says to honor the emperor. So to make it applicable for us, we honor the president and past presidents. And to do so, take these simple things as we live in this world, under the Govt authority, but for our Lord.

Happy Presidents’ Day.

Thank you for your service to this great country.

*BLB - Blue Letter Bible. An app I use often for studying.