Come What May – Fifth Commandment

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Come What May

Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16

“Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”

Acts 5:29

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than man.”

Make Up Your Mind Now

Some time ago I was involved in a conversation with two other ministers, and the subject of martyrdom came up. Two of us agreed that, if it came to that, we would lay down our lives for the Gospel. The third, however, said he wasn’t quite sure. I was stunned. At the very least, I believe every Christian needs to make up his mind right now that he will never deny his Lord, come what may, and that he will always stand for the Truth of God, even if it means disobeying the law and suffering the consequences of that. Whether we actually will or not remains to be seen, but the likelihood is greater if we decide right now that this will be our posture. It’s what we owe the government, after all. We owe Caesar our unqualified obedience to God, as the apostles knew. For only in obeying God will we be willing to honor the government and do everything in our power to help it fulfill its mandate for good from the Lord. And if it comes to having to disobey the government in order to stay true to God – as it well may some day – let us make up our minds to take that stance now, or else we may well fail to do so when such becomes necessary.

Pray

Lord, I want to honor the government in every way. Help me to be more diligent in this, and more involved in seeking You each day to guide me in giving proper respect to the civil magistrates of the land.

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.