Have you ever heard the statement: “love the sinner, hate the sin”?
Personally I believe that is a spot on requirement for every professing Christian. God expects us to love everybody, even our harshest enemy. Lk 6:27-28; Mt 5:43-48; Rom 12:14, 20 God also expects us to hate what He hates – SIN. Pr 6:16-19
So what do you think of this assertion: “pray for rulers, hate their sins”.
1 Tim 2:1-2 is a clear cut command: “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”
Notice that it doesn’t say “pray for them if you agree with them” or “pray for them if you voted for them” or “pray for them if you agree with everything they believe”. Paul obviously prayed for the ungodly Caesars’ of his day and for other anti-Christian leaders. Now if you aren’t a professing Christian (PC), you can completely ignore the Holy Spirit’s words through Paul and never pray for anyone you didn’t vote for. But if you are a PC, and you will only pray for those leaders you voted for, then you are 100% “professing” and 0% “Christian”. Time to repent and pray.
Now to the “hate their sins” part. Christians are so fortunate to have God’s Word, the Bible; that way we don’t have to guess at what God considers “sin”. And when we see it in a national leader, we must hate it, just like God does. But remember one danger in this area: for most humans, it is very easy to see the sins of the people we didn’t vote for, while much harder to see the sins of the people we supported. That is also true with PCs. Better be careful here or we could find ourselves playing the role of a hypocrite. God hates hypocrisy in His followers.
How about we examine the elephant in the room that this article has avoided so far. If you are a PC and you voted for Joe Biden (not yet President), have you been praying for President Trump for the past 4 years? If not, why not? Flipping the coin over: if you are a PC and you voted for President Trump, will you be praying for President Joe Biden? If not, shame on you.
Take a moment and consider the title of this article: Practicing Is Harder Than Preaching. It is connected to that old saying: “practice what you preach”. Wouldn’t you agree that it is harder to practice what we preach than to just preach it?
What our country really needs now from every Professing Christian is more PRACTICING than PREACHING. It won’t be easy; it won’t be painless. However, it will prove if we are more PROFESSING than CHRISTIAN or a REAL DEAL Christian.
And YES, I will now start praying for our new President Joe Biden. Afterall, I don’t want to be a hypocrite who is more preaching than practicing. God bless.
Mike Sublett is a pastor at Hi-Land Christian Church, 1615 N. Banks St., Pampa, Texas 79065. Email him at pawdad@nts-online.net.
