SATURDAY, JANUARY 30
Scripture: Proverbs 21:3; Acts 4:19; Acts 5:29

The next thing that we must do in order to live our lives for God in the midst of Babylon is to refuse to obey unjust laws. Civil disobedience has an honorable tradition in American history. Martin Luther King Jr. said in his letter from Birmingham jail that “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” The world would bog us down in debates over what decides whether a law is just or unjust. The universal Natural Law that God has imprinted upon the hearts of mankind does not need to debate whether a law is just or unjust. We are all formed with a conscience to know intrinsically whether something is right or wrong. The day will come when we may be asked to obey an unjust law. For many of us, that day has already arrived in the form of COVID restrictions limiting our freedom of assembly to worship the Lord, or limiting what we are able to do if we are allowed to meet. Giving within the church is less when services are not in-person, and the government knows this. Is there a chance that some churches which have been forced to shutter during the pandemic will never reopen? Will some smaller ministries be forced to cease operation? Large ministries, which might not be as faithful to the Word, will be able to weather the storm. Other organizations have refused to participate in calling evil good in support of homosexual marriage or transgenderism, and have seen their businesses seriously impacted. Are we willing to risk the wrath of the state to do what we know is right? Will we be faithful to God’s commands?