Saturday, July 7, 2007
Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.
PRAY FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS IN OUR NATION BEFORE GOD
In his explanation of the petition "Give us this day our daily bread", Martin Luther points out that our Lord Jesus wants us to be concerned about the society in which we live, to pray for "pious and faithful rulers, good government . . . good neighbors and the like." The people of our country are people for whom our Savior died. We desire good things for them -- along with the best thing of all -- faith in Jesus Christ.
We do not want our nation to be ravaged by evil and destroyed by sin's folly. We also realize that those countries in which evil and corruption hold sway are usually places where the spread of the Gospel is hindered, so that people suffer a worse fate than human oppression. Therefore, as Christian citizens we will work and pray for two sorts of righteousness: that which is among men and that which is before God.
Now, there is only one righteousness which avails before God: Christ's. This is His doing, not ours -- a gift received by faith, not standing earned by our goodness. We "work for" this when we witness to Jesus as Lord and Savior in word and action, in the way we live and in the Gospel we share.
The other is often called "civic righteousness." We promote this when we encourage what is right, good, and moral in our nation and among its people. We dare never forget that this changes no one's status before God.
Still, the fact remains that such righteousness is beneficial to us and our neighbor. For God's commandments are true, both in that they come from God who is true and in that they provide a working framework for a society -- one in which evil is punished and good is encouraged.
God is not honored when evil perverts government and society. Therefore we as Christian citizens will want to become involved politically and in our communities to encourage civic righteousness wherever God gives us the opportunity. Through daily prayer, informed voting, and timely comment we will be the "salt" our Lord has called us to be -- a preservative in a society whose members are all too often doing what is right in their eyes with no thought to the will of their Creator.
