This week we examine how Christians should handle politics and government.

In today’s passage, we see several prominent teachings on government. The first is Christians should be good citizens. What is a citizen? Merriam-Webster defines it as “a native or naturalized person who owes allegiance to a government and is entitled to protection from it.”  And it’s been said that “whatever it is that makes men good Christians makes them good citizens as well.”

So, if we are citizens of the United States, our allegiance is to the U.S. government whether we agree with its leaders or not. It means if we have submitted our lives to Jesus and His sacrifice on the Cross, we should follow and abide by what our government asks of us.

Looking at how Jesus answered the question asked of Him, He was essentially saying we should obey the laws of our government. There is one caveat to this, though. It doesn’t mean we go against biblical truth. We gauge every action on the truth of Scripture. One of the best examples of this is the account of the fiery furnace in Daniel 3:8–25. Pause and read it now. These men went against the authority of the person ruling because he was asking them to do something unbiblical, to worship the king rather than God.

• What makes you a good citizen?
• What are two or three things you need to start doing to become a better citizen? (Hint: Praying for our government is a great place to start.)