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Hi! It’s time for Devotions from History. In AD 54, Claudius Caesar Germanicus, better
known as Nero, became the Roman emperor at the tender age of 16. The first few years
of his reign were really relatively peaceful as he allowed the Roman philosopher, Seneca,
to do the majority of his governing for him. But after about 5 years, Nero’s ego and
power hungry nature really began to surface. To secure his throne, he likely had his stepbrother
murdered and certainly had his mother murdered and he even ordered the forced suicide of
Seneca. He then began to fill the Roman senate and all of the powerful positions in Rome
with his friends who were greedy, arrogant, and power hungry men. He began to arrest and
execute people on a whim and his own appetite became so perverted and sick that it was well
known around Rome that you needed to hide your young men and your young women from the
emperor. His spending became so extraordinary that he pretty much drove the Roman treasury
into near bankruptcy. His arrogance hit new heights when he to Greece to participate in
the Olympics and insisted that because he was emperor that he be allowed to win every
game. Well, in the end his mind and his will to live left him and on June 9, 68, Nero committed
suicide after a brief and disastrous 14 year reign. You know, as Christians, we’re very
fond of quoting the Apostle Peter’s command to “honor the king” without realizing
who was on the throne when Peter wrote that command to the first century Christians. When
Peter said “honor the king” the man on the throne was Emperor Nero. I think it was
pretty hard for some of those Christians to stomach the idea f showing respect and honor
for a man like Nero. Even today there are politicians and elected government officials
that we may disagree with. Just because we disagree with them does not give us the right
to be dishonoring people. As Christians, we are called to be responsible citizens and
part of that is showing honor to our leaders. Now that doesn’t mean we condone or agree
with everything they do. We need to speak out for truth but we need to do so in a way
that still shows honor because the office is worthy of that respect. So today, think
about the government official who most drives you crazy and ask yourself, and ask the Lord,
what you could do that would show honor to them. Maybe you need to send an email, write
on their facebook wall, send a letter…something that is encouraging. Maybe it’s something
as simple as getting down on your knees and praying for them, but whatever it is, we need
to remember that we are commanded by Scripture to show honor to our king. I’ll see you
tomorrow on Devotions from History. % ) Œ üøüô h‡E÷ hG J hja( ú gdG J
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