What now?
"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time." (1 Timothy 2:1-6)
November 6, 2025
Dear friends,
I saw a sticker the other day that said, "Stay calm, and follow Jesus." Good advice, I think, especially in the aftermath of elections!
Following up from my pre-election newsletter about being "A Christian conservative", here's a few things I am gleaning from Paul's call for prayer in 1 Timothy 2 (above). Now, this passage doesn't tell us everything we need to know about prayer, but here are a couple of things which stand out to me right now...
We should pray for our rulers, leaders, and governing officials. This may be a hard pill to swallow for many of us, but we should remember that, when Paul wrote this, Nero -- surely a paragon of obsession, immorality, and instability -- was then emperor in Rome. As believers, we look beyond the personalities of authorities to the sovereign God who is behind and over all history.
These prayers should include "thanksgivings", perhaps for any good or commendable thing a leader may do. If nothing else, we can be thankful that they are not as evil as they could be! We never see the Apostle Paul wringing his hands over the ruling authorities. Dr. Thomas Constable writes in his commentary on this passage:
Primarily we should pray for governmental leaders and those in positions of lesser authority under them so that we may lead tranquil (Gr. eremos, outwardly peaceful) and quiet (hesychios, inwardly peaceful) lives. We should not do so primarily for our personal ease and enjoyment but so we can carry out our purpose in the world as Christians (cf. 6:1). Our purpose is to bring the message of reconciliation to all people and to glorify God in all our relationships. Obviously the type of government under which people live influences their lives and affects their spiritual welfare (cf. Ezra 6:9-10; Jer. 29:7). “Godliness” (Gr. eusebeia, v. 2) refers to an attitude of reverence for God based on knowledge of Him. Paul used this word 10 times in the Pastorals, and this is its first occurrence. “Dignity” (semnoteti) refers to the outward manifestation of that attitude in righteous behavior. (Tom Constable, Commentary on 1 Timothy)
We pray, therefore, with a purpose -- interestingly, not that our leaders would be conservative or liberal, or capitalist or socialist, or even righteous, for that matter. That's good, of course, but Paul's stated goal here is that "we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way," and that people would come to Christ. We should remain calm and continue to pursue godliness and dignity in our lives and churches. Dignity means we have character and conduct that earn respect. We should never lose godly composure no matter where our culture goes. We may not control the ruling offices, but we can maintain a godly witness to the truth of the everlasting gospel.
We may be disappointed that the leadership we live under is not what we would have chosen, or that they are pursuing any semblance of biblical righteousness. We may work to change it if we can. But if we have freedom to pray and share the gospel, we have freedom enough to do the job God gave us. In fact, if we have freedom to live out and proclaim the gospel, we have more freedom than many Christians elsewhere have today, and more than most ever had down through history.
Christ is the Savior appointed for all people. His will is that all come to a knowledge of the truth and so, come to him for salvation. Men and women, boys and girls, citizens and immigrants, all peoples, all colors, all cultures, all parties, and all religions… This is our unchanging job -- to pray and labor for the eternal salvation of people.
That’s all for this week!
Sandy
Afterwords is an occasional newsletter on topics of interest to me (Sandy Young) since my retirement from full-time pastoral ministry. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.