Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Roy Moore
Devotional: 6 Ways You Can Honor God by Being a Good Citizen
There’s a misconception among some Christians that to truly honor God, you have to get on a boat and be a missionary at the other side of the planet. You don’t have to do something that dramatic for you to honor God. In fact, you can honor God based on how you live every single day.
One of the most effective ways you can honor God is by being a good citizen. Here are six ways you can honor your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through good citizenship.
Respect Authority
Apostle Paul is clear in the Book of Ephesians about the level of respect we should show civil authorities. This doesn’t mean that we can’t question them, but we must respect their office. Those are two completely different things. We can question authorities, especially during election season.
Pay the Right Tax
Jesus is clear regarding taxation. He said, “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and render unto God what is God’s.”
Paying the right tax doesn’t necessarily mean that you cannot be upset about high tax rates. You can deal with the tax rates through the proper forum which is through legislation and electoral process. In other words, if you are unhappy with the amount of taxes you are paying, you have to resolve the issue the right way.
Keep Your Word
The foundation of being a good citizen is to ensure that society operates fluidly at your level. This means keeping your word. Think about it. If people did not keep their promises, society would break apart. It would be very hard to find people to trust. Commerce would slow down and law and order might break down as well.
The simple act of keeping your word ensures that the process keeps going forward because the more you keep the word, the more of a model you become to people around you. The glue that holds any society together is trust. By keeping your word, you do your part in ensuring a healthy level of trust.
According to sociological studies, there is a correlation between a societies trust level and it’s economic development. The higher the societies trust level, the higher the economic development. So if you want to be a citizen of a great economy and a great country, keep your word.
Bear Truthful Witness
The Bible is clear in the Ten Commandments regarding lying: You must not bear false witness against your brother. This is so basic that it seems like common sense. Unfortunately, in this day and age, it’s very tempting to just bend a truth a little bit if there’s some sort of advantage to be had.
The problem is if you think in those terms, and you apply that same morality to everybody around you, then the level of trust will crash, which has a negative impact on an entire community.
Again, in sociological cross studies of many different countries all over the world, societies that tolerate lying more frequently tend to be the poorer countries.
Keep Yourself Accountable
The quality of all societies can really be summed up by the quality of its people. The good news is that the quality of its people can be broken down based on the individuals who make up that specific society.
If you want your world to change, you have to lead the way by being the change that you want to see.If you want more honest people in the government, then be honest. If you want more prosperity around you, then work harder and deal fairly with those around you.
In other words, be the catalyst for that change. Don’t just sit back and complain and whine. Whining and complaining is not going to change things.
Have an Opinion and Champion It
The Bible doesn’t teach us to keep quiet when there is injustice, or to turn the other eye when our brother is suffering. It’s perfectly okay to have an opinion regarding political change. However, just simply sitting back and complaining is not going to do much.
Champion your opinion and channel it in the right platform which is through the electoral system. This is a fundamental part of being a responsible yet biblical citizen.
