Pray For Them…
It’s Wednesday, and yesterday was election day – but I am actually writing this to you on Monday (sorry to confuse you right off the bat!). On Tuesday, our reading in our bible reading plan happened to be a passage that is very fitting for election day. Look at what Paul writes in to Timothy in chapter 2 of his first letter:
1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is right and acceptable before God our Savior, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For
there is one God;
there is also one mediator between God and humankind,
Christ Jesus, himself human,
6 who gave himself a ransom for all
—this was attested at the right time. 7 For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth; I am not lying), a teacher of the gentiles in faith and truth.
Did you see what Paul urges in the first verse? That supplications (petitions/asking for), prayers, intercessions (asking on behalf of/for another), and thanksgivings be made for everyone – including those kings and all who are in high positions. That is, politicians and rulers. Fitting for election day, where we have a new governor, new council persons, and so on…
we should be praying for them, whomever they are.
It’s important to remember that for Paul and Timothy, the ‘king’ was either the Caesar (i.e., the Roman emperor) or the local ‘king’ – who was like the regional ruler, so to speak. At best, Christians at that point had a mixed relationship with the powers that be, and at worst, it was downright contentious. When Paul was writing to Timothy, ideas of persecutions of Christians from kings and those in high positions were already in the air – and may have already begun to materialize. All of this is to say that Timothy, Paul, and the Christian community were either indifferent towards their politicians, or more likely, they strongly disliked them.
And yet, they were called to pray for them – and so are we.
So whether you like or dislike our new governor (and remember, I’m writing on Monday…I have no idea who it’ll be!), you should pray for him or her. If you love or despise our President, you should pray for him. If you are sick of – or can’t get enough of – our congressmen, representatives, and so on, you should pray for them. Their work is weighty, as a lot rests on their shoulders (it should, at least): human flourishing, ideally. Government is in place, and is in some way instituted by God (when you look at the overall witness of scripture), because it is meant to provide order, structure, safety, and stability so that human society can flourish and the disadvantaged can find aid.
So whether we like them or not, agree with their policies or not – they should be in our prayers.
And part of the reason for those prayers is so that we can “lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.” It’s kind of an odd thing to pray for, right? To pray that we can just live happy and healthy? Kind of, but I don’t think that’s what Paul’s actually getting at. I think what he means is that we should pray for our leaders so that we, the church, can get on being the church with as little resistance as possible. Remember, they were always a bit fearful that the government could persecute them at any time. Being the church (and by that, I mean being the life-giving, love-sharing, light of the world in society) is hard enough without persecution…so if we can ask God to help us avoid persecution from our government, we should!
Because ultimately, according to Paul in verse 4,
what God wants is for “everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”.
That’s what all of this is really about. The way that this happens is through Christ’s body, the church, being the church in the world. It’s the same world that God loves, the world that rightfully has Christ as its Lord, and the world that is (at least for now) ruled by kings, presidents, governors, mayors, and the like.
So let’s pray for our political leaders: to make wise decisions for all the people they govern (not just those who voted for them!), to be shaped with an increasingly moral and just character, to govern with integrity and in truth, to put forth policies that that help the most people possible and hurt the least possible, and to lead with compassion and care, especially towards those who are disadvantaged, underrepresented, forgotten, and voiceless.