Being under authority is hard

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Luke 6:27-30

This is really hard for me. I want to fight. I want to resist. The government has wrongly taken away my freedom to make my own health care choices. Resistance comes very easily to me. Outrage comes very easily to me. I want to resist. I want to take back what was stolen from me.

Following Jesus isn’t easy. You don’t just say, “I’m a Christian,” and all of a sudden you stop making wrong choices, and everything you do is perfect. It’s not like that. It’s never like that. I’m a Christian because I make mistakes and need help, not because I never make mistakes.

Submitting to unjust governance is the hardest part of following Jesus. But he did it, and he wants us to be like him. He submitted to an unjust ruling by the government — even to the point of his own death.