“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people mourn.”
— Proverbs 29:2
Slowly but surely, more and more we see that Christians are beginning to take their proper place in every sphere of life in our society. You may recall that one of the most important founders of this country was John Jay, and he said, “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian Nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”
Now who was this John Jay? Was he some sort of extremist? He was the first Chief Justice of the first Supreme Court, appointed by the first President of the United States, George Washington. He also wrote some of the Federalist Papers.
Well now, what he said we ought to do is being done. At one point, not too long ago, only five members of the House of Representatives could be found who were evangelical Christians. Most of them were probably nominal. But that number went up a decade later to 100, and then up to 125. Lord-willing, evangelicals in the political realm will be even more visible in the years to come.
So often we hear that no one should impose their morality on anyone, but the reality is that someone’s morality is always being legislated. It is not a question of “if,” but of “what” and of “whose.”
Dear Lord, You have said we should not put our trust in princes. Even the best of them can let us down. Help us to trust You alone. Meanwhile, we do pray that You would raise up more godly leaders. Help Your church to regain its role as salt and light in society…
BY GOD’S STRENGTH, THE CHURCH CAN
BE THE CONSCIENCE OF THE NATION.
“For to you it was granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake…”
— Philippians 1:29
In this verse, Paul is saying that suffering for Christ is of grace—it is a gift given unto you, first of all to believe in Christ and secondly to suffer for His sake. I think of one writer who points out that belief brings life, and suffering brings muscles. It is a freely given weight-set given by God to you to develop your spiritual muscles as we suffer for Him.
May I ask you this, have you suffered for Christ’s sake? Now you know a lot of people think that suffering for Christ’s sake is having a headache, or having arthritis or something like that. That’s not suffering for Christ’s sake; everybody suffers that way, Christian, non-Christian, all alike.
Suffering for Christ is very different. Suffering for Christ is something that we endure because of our witness for Christ, and we are called upon to suffer for Him as well as to believe in Him. And we are to rejoice in that, as Jesus told us Himself in the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are you when men revile you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be very glad, because great is your reward in heaven…” (Matthew 5:11-12a).
And we grow in faith when we are willing to suffer for Him. If we want to have spiritual muscles, then we need to realize and accept the gift, both of believing in Him and suffering for Him.
Dear Jesus, give me the strength to suffer gladly and patiently for You. Help me not take on a burden You have not asked me to carry. But when the time comes to suffer for Your name’s sake, give me the grace to endure…
BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE ENDURE,
EVEN WHEN SUFFERING FOR HIM.
