Author Steven Lake
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| The Wasted Tribute Saturday, June 28th, 2014 12:05pm Keywords: (None) |
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| During my bible study this morning I ran across an interesting group of verses in Romans 13, namely verses 1-7. It talks about respecting the powers that are over you, the government, the state and so on. You are to respect them and pay whatever tribute they ask of you, no matter what it may be or how burdensome it may be because all their power comes from God and if He hadn't given it, they wouldn't have it. The only exception to this rule is when those same said powers either violate God's word, or order you to. If what they ask you to do is in violation of God's word (not what you *think* is in violation, but really does violate it) you are to abstain from obeying. Otherwise you must follow the letter of the law exactly as it's demanded of you. I'm sure right now you're chaffing in your seat because you don't like the idea of obeying our corrupt government. Well, let me ask you this. Is God not in control of everything? Does He not have total control over those in power to raise them up, and tear them down? Does He not have the ability to bring their rules and power to nothing? He does. So that then begs the question, if God hasn't restrained their power, why? Let me proffer to you a suggestion that I know most of you will disagree with. The reason God hasn't restrained the unjust laws of this land is for one reason, and one reason only: SIN. Period. Yup, that wonderful word and activity we all love to hate, yet participate in with reckless abandon. I think it was one of the men of old, I forget who exactly, that said it so well when he stated that, "Good men bring good kings. But evil men, evil kings." In other words, when the nation is evil, their kings are evil. But when the nation is good, their kings are good. Sure, that's not always true because sometimes God gives good kings to evil men and evil kings to good men. But those are always for a reason. God gave Israel good kings and bad kings throughout her history. If you look at the way the kingdoms operated in the post Solomon era, you'll see that the northern kingdom was entirely evil and had nothing but consistently bad kings. However, the southern kingdom of Judah and Benjamin went back and forth between good and bad kings as the hearts of the people moved to and from God over the generations. Eventually their hearts turned cold and refused to turn back. From that point forward they had nothing but bad kings and eventually captivity. They didn't regain full legal ownership and autonomy as an operating federal state until 1948. So I propose this theory. The reason we have such a horrible, evil, wicked, greedy, corrupt government is not because of their actions. They are merely the symptom of our hearts. Remember what I said, when men are good, kings are good. When men are evil, kings are evil. Another way to put it is, "God gives us the leaders we deserve, NOT the ones we want." So if we look at our government today and see the evil in it and it sickens us, then we must remember it is OUR sin that brought that about. Yes, I admit that this is a collective issue, as we're all at fault, and the whole is greater than the individual parts, but remember, it only takes one bacterial cell to rot a chunk of meat, just like it only takes one bad soul, if not countered by good men and women, to destroy a nation. We've let sin go unchecked far too long in this nation. It's time we started a full blown return to God's LITERAL word. In the English language that's the original King James 1611 bible. We need to return to it, study it, believe it in its entirely, follow it in its entirety, and follow God and ALL of His precepts without wavering and questioning. Sure, there might only be one of us here, and one of us there, but as I said, it only takes one bacteria to rot a slab of meat, just in the same way it only takes one good soul, through the power of God, to turn this nation around. We just have to be willing to do it. If you should choose not to obey God without question or reservation, no matter how hard it may be for you to do, then all you give to the government is wasted tribute. It is money thrown to the wind, stripped from your pocket, and given to the promotion of evil. So your choice is simple. Serve God entirely, and gain everything, or serve evil, and lose it all. Luke 17:33 (KJV) - "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it." Matthew 16:26 (KJV) - "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" So don't waste your tribute on a corrupt and evil world by living an evil, sinful life. Make every ounce of your tribute count by serving God to your absolute, and you will gain far more than you ever surrendered. Another way to look at this is to say, "Give a little, gain a lot. Keep a little, lose everything." Think about that today. |
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