Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Four simple sentences. Hard to do, but if we were governed by these principles, our world would be a better place and our witness would shine all the brighter.

Headed into 2020, we knew this would be a trying year for America. A presidential election year is always contentious, but we knew this year would be uniquely so. Yet, little did we know that the year would include the #MeToo Movement, DACA, COVID-19, the deaths of Ahmad Aubrey and George Floyd, protests, and significant Supreme Court rulings. A difficult climate has become toxic.

How does our Christian faith come to bear on these circumstances? We could provide detailed specifics, but the list would prove endless. I would suggest that if we abide by four governing principles commanded by the Lord through the apostle Peter, our light would shine as Christians in this present darkness.

Peter instructs us, “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor” (1 Pet. 2:17). Four imperatives. Four simple sentences. Four verbs. Four objects.

Honor everyone.

“Everyone” is a word that is often translated as “all.” It is used to speak of “the whole,” the whole of mankind. Peter doesn’t shrink from difficulty at the beginning of these principles. He starts big. Dear Christians, you are to evidence love for all people. Whether that is in person, in our private conversations, or on Twitter or Facebook. All people. Let’s be abundantly clear in the midst of what should not be confusing for the Christian—“all” means “all.” We value people of both genders, every color of skin, nationality, ethnicity, language, and culture. All are image-bearers and thus are worthy of respectful kindness—honor.

If we all lived by this Christian principle—honor everyone—what a difference this politically charged climate would be. Disagreement wouldn’t disappear, controversy might still stir, passions would still exist, but the climate would be less toxic. And Christians would lead the way. We can and must stand out as salt and light in this world, looking and sounding wholly different.

And that’s possible for us because we are not of the world. Partisan politics is terrible at love. Parties are controlled by their coalitions and center their agenda upon meeting their coalition’s desires. But we don’t serve a coalition. We serve a God who is love. And so, of all people, we can honor everyone. That doesn’t mean we have to agree with everyone—in fact we shouldn’t—but we can honor everyone.

Love the brotherhood.

Peter then carries us to a higher plane when he instructs, “Love the brotherhood.” This is an even greater obligation, isn’t it? Paul echoes this greater obligation when he says in Galatians 6, “So then, as we have the opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Those in the church are to be recipients of our love unlike anyone else. They are our eternal family.

Though there may be differences between us—different issues that concern us, different agendas we desire to see passed, different politics—none should be allowed to rise to a level of importance that it diminishes our love for one another. Oh, may we remember that in the church today!

If my conviction regarding some issue clouds my love for you, then I’m worshipping my passion instead of the Christ who dwells in you. No matter how much I rationalize that I’m fighting for truth, justice, freedom, or mercy, as Christ would have me, if it disrupts my love for you then it is a lie. Because Christ dwells in my brothers and sisters, they are to be the objects of my love.

“They will know you by your love for one another,” Jesus said. J.C. Ryle wonderfully commented, “Let us note that our Lord does not name gifts or miracles or intellectual attainments as the evidence of discipleship but love—the simple grace of love, a grace within reach of the poorest, lowliest believer, as the evidence of discipleship.” The apostle John writes, “Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness” (1 John 2:10, 11). If politics is defined as the activities associated with the governance of an area, then love is the politics of the Christian life. Love is to govern.

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