1 Timothy 2:2-4

"for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Since I have not gotten a chance to blog in the last couple of days, I have decided to combing my thoughts on these three verses that are part of the same though train by Paul.

After, urging Timothy to offer all types of prayers for all types of people, Paul gets a little more pointed. He tells Timothy to first pray for rulers and kings. As I thought about this, it was rather unexpected. Honestly I have to admit that I rarely pray for my President or the President of Mexico. Generally, only when I am reminded to do so by some verse or some well meaning believer. I of course in stead always pray first for my loved ones (family, then friends and aquaintences).

Now, I don't think this is a command that the first prayers you offer up on a daily basis need to always be for the rulers of countries, but Paul is placing these prayers in a position of upmost importance. Why?

1) Because Prayer Can Change Countries--As citizens (democracy or no) we rarely feel like we can change the direction of our countries. God is saying in essence "I Can, Just Ask Me!"

2) God Can Change the Hearts of Rulers (ex Nebuchanezzer) I have learned in life that we as people generally struggle to take criticism (constructive or not) from people that we consider to be "lower" then ourselves. Right or not, I think this tends to be our prideful human response to being corrected by someone for which we have little respect. Kings I think are no different, but God can change kings.

3) The Gospel spreads best in a society where order and human dignity are prevalent (There are exceptions), but verse 3 tends to be telling us this very thing. Now this does not mean Government and Societies open to the gospel, but societies where general human dignity is allowed. (Ex China no ways promotes the gospel or freedom of speech, but does promote a society of order and general human dignity, on the other hand Afghanistan promotes neither, including a society where women have little to no dignity.) Within this order (peace), yet no support, the gospel has flurished. This as I said is not the case every time, but order, peace, and dignity are desired greatly by God and in some sense can better aid the spread of his gospel. Only rulers can truly work to create such a peace and that allows believers to live a godly and holy life free of persecution.

4) God desires that all men be saved (verse 4). God can accomplish this in many ways, but he knows that changes in rulers can open up doors for the gospel that never existed (Ex. Fall of Communism/Berlin Wall and the doors that were opened for the gospel following).