Call me simple or unspiritual - but I love those plain, no nonsense passages in the Bible. Today I was reading in Romans 13 and came across one of these in verse 3.
The question Paul poses to those in Rome is, "would you like to live without fear of those in authority?" Think about those fears: the fear of being "caught." Many a prank went undone by me because of the risk of capture and punishment. Some I thought were worth it - and paid the price for. Others I just could not justify. The fear of imprisonment is a huge deterrent for me, even though orange looks good on me, I do not like the whole jumpsuit look - very unflattering. There is the fear of being injured or killed... you get the picture. When you are in fear of those in authority you most often are doing something that you should not be doing, otherwise there would be no reason to be in fear!
The rhetorical answer to Paul's question is this, if you don't want to live in fear of those in authority... this is good I hope you're ready... STOP BREAKING THE LAW. Duh, right?!
Instead of gripping about being caught and how the cops are "after you" stop breaking the law or looking for ways to break the law and you wont have to live in fear anymore!
I hope my youngest son learns this lesson quickly. The other day I was driving and he saw a cop car and said, "uh oh, be careful dad there's a cop car they might come after you." I quickly informed him that I was not doing anything wrong so there was no reason to fear that the cop might stop me. I also got to use the opportunity to reinforce that the police are there primarily for our protection. Stopping speeding cars, or suspicious cars, etc. are just some of the ways they protect the rest of us.
There is no fear if you're not doing anything wrong... Duh.
Thoughts on the Bible, Church, life and living it to its full potential in Jesus Christ!
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