Saturday Reading: Romans 13:1-5
Key Verse: Romans 13:5
5 Therefore you must be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake.
Devotion:
There is no getting round the fact that there are rules or laws that we have to obey. Some may not agree with those laws but we do have to follow them because they make up the law. Why should we have to follow the law when we don’t like it? Think about who has allowed that authority to get into power; but not only that, think about what that authority stands for...
When we start to look into figures of authority we quickly find that there are two extremes: those that will try to stick to the law themselves and rule as justly as they can and those that make their own rules and rule by fear. There is nothing new in that these types of rulers have been around from the beginning. What we do with that information will cause us to be very different people. As long as we acknowledge that the highest authority is God and that all people must be under His authority then we have a head start. We do need to remember that God has allowed people to get where they are for His reasons; if we work against His will then we are not recognising His authority. If rulers are working against God’s will then they are not recognising His authority and are therefore working for themselves.
That is our downfall; we work for ourselves far too often instead of working for God. There should be no disguising the fact that we are working for God because pretending to do things any other way will be encouraging others to not work for God either. If we work against God in any way then we must expect to face His wrath for disobeying His authority. We have been given a conscience so that we can work for God and not against Him. Use that conscience more and depend less on the fear of the law because the law is there to guide our conscience that God has given us so that we will not try to make our own conscience up...
Points to Ponder:
Do you obey the laws?
Are you working against God?
