Choosing Our Battles Biblically

The day is coming soon when we as believers will have to choose to obey God over human government. It is a choice that the church has faced since the dawn of Christianity. However, the conflation of conservative politics and religion has not necessarily helped us in preparing to navigate those waters ahead.

People are shooting one another over the mask requirement. Emotions are running extremely high. Some of the emotion is the pent up frustration over the economy, the lockdowns, and what seem to be arbitrary and overreaching restrictions being imposed by Executive Branch leaders without legislation or court directive. There might be some good reasons not to wear masks—personal health (people with respiratory issues), emotional health (panic attacks, etc)—but we must be extremely careful not to try to invoke scripture on issues that the scriptures clearly do not address.

Issues that do not rise to civil disobedience.

We cannot disobey when it’s just about money. Jesus told believers to pay their taxes, so did the Apostle Paul. I am not saying that Christians cannot object to higher taxes and work to get them lowered—they just cannot use the scripture to make the case for disobedience.

Governmental stupidity is not a Christian justification for civil disobedience. In our church building, we have a big beautiful wheelchair accessible bathroom in a room that is only accessible by a rather steep, long stairwell. The requirement did not make sense, but the battle to get the design changed was not worth it from a financial or biblical perspective.

Inconvenience is not an excuse for biblical civil disobedience—even if the inconvenience is severe. I sometimes wonder if some politicians think that the PURPOSE of government is to foist inconvenience on the masses.

Power-hungry or insincere leaders are not an excuse to disobey. We need to be realistic here. Being power hungry and insincere is almost part of the job description for politicians. If we disobeyed over this we would always be in disobedience.

Frustration cannot be our trigger for disobedience. Often abuses of government pile up and finally we hit that one thing that is like the straw that breaks the camel’s back. That one thing must be a clearly defensible biblical principle, not just the final frustration.

Dissent is allowed for more secular reasons, but it is wrong to invoke the Word of God as justification in such situations. Issues such as immigration, gun rights, health care policy, and even aspects of fiscal policy should be passions of citizens who are stewards of their political responsibilities, but Christians do not have a right to misuse scripture to support their specific views.

There are areas where, like the three Hebrew children in Daniel, we cannot bow.

Proclamation of biblical truth. The first biblical example of this is the proclamation of the gospel (Acts 4:19). This principle applies to the public condemnation of sin as sin. It also extends to speaking out on biblical issues such as creation and human origins.

Personal and corporate worship.  Daniel is also an example here (Daniel 6:10). We have a biblical obligation to worship our God in accordance with biblical principles and our consciences. We might suspend worship services for only a short time based upon public health, but gathering together as congregations in worship is a biblical mandate that overrides human regulations against it.

Holy living. Believers cannot obey when government mandate forces sin upon them. However, we must face the reality that obeying God in such circumstances might have personal and financial consequences. If it is against your conscience to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple, and the government says you have to do it or lose your business, losing the business might be the cost of true discipleship.

This is a time for careful, clear thinking, and not for fed up emotional responses. Spiritual leaders have an obligation not only to be discerning but also to lead their congregations in appropriate biblical responses to the changing world around them. May God grant us grace and wisdom to please Him in an increasingly hostile world.