From the Home Place

May 5, 2026

Good morning. And a good morning it is, there is moisture falling from the sky! At 4 a.m. it was snowing nicely, most of it melting as it hit the ground. The thermometer read 37 degrees, but the wind chills that down to 27 degrees real feel. All I know is that Coffee said it’s cold and wet out there. Oh, we thank You Heavenly Father for this great blessing of moisture! It sounds like south of us could get measurable snow fall, perhaps we should keep praying?

Keep praying for more moisture to come to the many areas of extreme drought. Pray for the Spirit of God to reign within His church. Pray for our national leaders as the war in Iran seems to be ramping up instead of cooling down. Pray that Washington D.C. will stop playing politics and actually provide truthful leadership. Pray that we the Church, will also provide truthful leadership as we live biblical lives that reveal the light of Christ during these dark days.

Because today is a very important election day, allow me to grab a can opener and to slice open a real can of worms. I have always marveled as to how so many folks who call themselves “Christian,” have a real dislike for Romans 13, evidentially because it does not fit their political views and agenda. Yet the Bible clearly states that “all Scripture is God breathed,” not just the parts we agree with.

Romans 13:1, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” Did you see it? Stuffed within this verse is perhaps the most controversial word of all of the Bible; the word “subjection” is almost a cuss word in many circles today.

We find different forms of this word used in different places within the Bible. Look at Hebrews 13:17, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.” This verse is directed to those of us who sit in the pews on Sunday mornings. We are to “obey,” “submit” to, the leadership of the local church in such a way that it is a “joy” for them to guide the church through today’s turbulent waters. As individuals within the church, to not “submit” to our leaders is “unprofitable.”.

Speaking of “unprofitable,” we read, “and what will it profit a man if he should gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” Then there is the much-dreaded verse of Ephesians 5:22, “Wives, be subject to your own husband, as to the Lord.” Could it be that this verse contains another hidden gem? It would appear that a “wife” is to submit to her husband in the same way as she has first submitted “to the Lord.” Do you see the order revealed here, submission is first “to the Lord” and then second to the husband, and just like all of God’s decrees, it doesn’t work when we try to mess with the order!

I would suggest to you that for each of us that our level of subjection to the Lord is the primary influence toward my view of government. You see, if I do not have spiritual subjection, then I will not have political subjection either. Oh my friends, I would suggest that the greatest example of subjection was when Jesus Christ allowed the Roman “government” to nail Him to the cross. A government that was totally corrupt all the way through. A government that was far more interested in caring for its wealth than for the wellbeing of the people under its authority. A government that was far more concerned with control than with liberty. (Does any of this sound familiar to you?)

Yet, to this very corrupt government, Jesus Christ submitted Himself. How did He do that? By first submitting Himself to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. And that my friends, is exactly what Romans 13:1 and Ephesians 5:22 ask us to do, submit to God first and foremost, and then the other forms of submission become possible.

Well, let’s stuff the worms back in the can and allow Scripture to speak for itself as we read Romans 13:2, “Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.” The word “ordinance” literally means “direction.” God’s word is a book of directions to help us live our lives in full subjection to God, and then to those who have “authority” over our earthly existence. Remember, proper order is everything!

Submitting to God with you, Neal