Top X August 2, 2025 Devotional
August 02, 2025
ROMANS 13:1-4 | 1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval, 4 for it is God’s agent for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the agent of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer.
ACTS 5:29 | 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.
The Bible has a sophisticated view of government, acknowledging its benefits and dangers, its necessary role and potential for misuse. When a legitimate government imposes taxes for the common benefit, it is not a form of theft. This common benefit can even be a redistributive, helping the vulnerable, at a cost to the healthy, for instance. But taxes can also be predatory, whenever revenue is wasted, mismanaged, or simply used to reward constituencies that then return the favor with votes and contributions. In those cases the central authority is using its power to take the fruit of its citizens labor for purposes that do not advance the common good.
Do you see how taxes can be justified but also a form of theft?
Gracious God,
We pray that our government will be transparent and accountable, using resources to advance the common good. Give government officials a sense of sacred stewardship.
Amen.
