Can
we make supplication, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings for a king, or
in our time elected officials, while at the same time engaging in the time
honored American tradition of treating those voted into high positions with
disdain or outright contempt? The first Christians had no such choice. The
kings and people in high places for whom they were urged to make supplication,
prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings were actively seeking to put them into
the low place of the grave and frankly their most ardent prayer was simply to
be left alone. The wisdom of this pastoral letter is not about temporal
politics but eternal destiny. God’s most ardent desire is for everyone to be
saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. If our practice of politics
contradicts a quiet and peaceable life then we are to choose godliness and
dignity above partisan positions for the sake of the One who gave himself as a
ransom for all. Even so this text does not prohibit passionate engagement in
the political process. It just reminds us that what is right and acceptable is to
make supplication, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings for the ones we
want out of high places, keeping in mind that God passionately loves the person
we might disagree with as a politician.
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