Reminder 1: Obedient To Rulers, Titus 3:1

Reminder 1: Obedient To Rulers

Titus 3:1 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good

Why should we, as Christians, be subject to non-Christians who know little to nothing of God's morals. Yet, this is our call. We are told by Jesus to give unto Caesar what is Caesars. Paul said, that we are to be in subjection to governing authorities, because they are established by God. He also said that we should pray for them, so we can live a quiet life. After all, they do not bear the sword for no reason. There are other rulers that we have as well; parents - whom we are to honor, a spouse - who may be a non-believer, and to bosses - Peter says even to harsh masters (Yes, I'm relating employees to slaves, bosses to masters).

K and A, the Scriptures are quite clear when it comes to obeying your authorities. This is true whether they are godly or evil. They have been given to us to bless and care for us. Let me relate a story on following man's rules when they seem pointless...

I was in a vehicle around 5 years back when I needed to make a left turn into a store. It would have been easy and safe to do, but there was a sign - No Left Turn! I exclaimed to the person with me, that I would need to go down the road, do a U-turn, and turn in from the other direction. I was urged by my passenger to just turn left. I refused and they ridiculed and scoffed at me saying something like so you always the road sign... I said, I try to. They snapped, knowing my driving techniques... well, how about the speed limit signs. I had to consider that... I had obeyed them when it was convenient, but I had become more and more lax in my obedience and it had become rare for it to be convenient... I resolved that day to keep my speed within the 10mph limit they police allow. To this day, I seek to follow that... save the road to our house and in emergencies. If I catch myself  not following that, I think of the rebuke I got that day and slow down.

Daughters, years back at church, we had a video by a very prolific teacher, pastor, speaker and book writer; pretty sound theologically, really. Yet, the comment he made still perturbs me. It went something like this...

when you go down a road and you see a one-way street sign what is the first though that comes to your mind? Well, to my mind it is, I wonder where the other one-way street so I can go that way. He said the first thing you think is that you want to turn down that street. If it says keep off the grass, you want to walk on the grass. If it says don't touch, you want to touch it. No! That's contrary to what God expects!

K and A, if those are your first thoughts, then you have a spiritual problem. That is opposite to Christ's expectations for his followers. You are called to be obedient, not only to the Word of God, but to the rules of our leaders. Why, because that is what the Word of God says and the rules are there for our protection. It should be your nature to be obedient!

~Dad

Special note: You should understand that when the rules are contrary to God's commands and principles, you must obey God rather than man! That is not the discussion in this verse, though. I don't get why people don't want to follow the rules!