It is a lot easier to read the Apostle Paul tell you from his jail cell to submit to tyrants than it is to hear a politico quote the Apostle Paul to use pious lingo that effectively means “Get back in line!”

(As the grasshopper said to the ant, which has always made me wonder if Pixar had someone who brought up the fable at a planning meeting… but I digress).

But whether it comes from the Apostle or the authoritarian, it is still true. Just because a tyrant, in his unbelief, is pushing a deadly weapon into your hands, doesn’t mean you should share his lack of faith and refuse to grab the handle.

Faith and patience win out in the end.

It is not just the public sector. All your life you will hear authority figures endorse ethics and values that make you more compliant to the ones enjoying authority over you–ethics and values you don’t see them practicing when it is to their hurt. But do as they say not as they do. God is slow to anger but not asleep. And when it is time for the changing of the guard, he will see you are ready for authority precisely because you served well.

If you have to spend time in a jail cell, you don’t want to waste the preparation that it can provide you!