Have you ever lived in a college dorm or shared an apartment with several roommates? You likely came up with a cleaning schedule. If you hadn’t, the dorm or apartment would soon have become unlivable. When we live near other people, rules make life easier.
But what do we do when the rules are bad rules, when the laws go against God’s plan for how we should live? As Americans, we are blessed with the ability to participate in the process of how laws are made. But in a democratic republic, the majority wins, and sometimes the majority overlooks those in need and fails to protect the vulnerable. What should we do then?
Romans tells us to submit to our leaders. God has appointed them, as we have seen. But when they bring oppression and injustice, we are called to step in the gap. God values justice; repeatedly in the Bible, God tells us to take care of those people in society who cannot take care of themselves. We are called to make God’s love easy to see.
The first letter of Peter warns that sometimes we may suffer for doing good. That’s not our cue to walk away. Far from it! We must continue to show God’s love and compassion, work for peace, resist the urge to retaliate, and through it all, worship God. When the people around us ask how we can have such peace, we should be ready to give an answer: we have experienced the love and forgiveness of God through the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins, and this is available for them, too. We may suffer in this life, but we may also introduce people to Christ and then, together, we’ll fully follow him.
Prayer: Dear God, open my eyes to the needs around me. Help me to steward what you have given me so that I can be generous towards helping others. Give me the words to speak when someone asks how I can have such peace in the middle of turmoil. Help me to live in such a way that your love is easy to see. Amen.