Last Friday, January 20, 2017, Donald J. Trump became the President of The United States. Some people were happy, some were upset and others humored. However, I have heard a lot of grumbles in my social circles. Many of these people were, well, disrespecting our now President and calling him things they probably should not have. While I am not here to tell anyone that they should approve of, love or support President Trump, I am here to say one thing: Christians are called to respect the leadership that is placed over us.
If you are not a Christian, I respect that. However, maybe some of the following thoughts will change your perspective on our President.
If you read my bio, you will see that I attend a small Christian college in the middle of Northern Indiana--known to be a fairly conservative region. Although the majority of people in my region voted Trump, there were a numerous amount of people at my college that voted for Clinton. Although I obviously cannot speak for all areas of the US, some students here have been very disrespectful when referring to our president.
Even when President Obama was in office, I was taken aback at how many Christians discussed how much they hated him, without even considering that we are supposed to respect those put in leadership (and other people in general). I'll be honest--I have been disrespectful when referring to President Obama in the past. I do realize that it is difficult to respect someone whose views are far removed from one's own. However, as Christians, we are held to a higher standard. We are called to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you", and while I hope we do not feel our president is our enemy, if we take that extreme, should we not at least pray for Trump? We do not have to agree with or support him and his ideas, but should we hate him and vocalize our hatred if we have any?
Additionally, we are called to be subject to our governing authorities: "Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good..." With this in mind, should Christians post that Trump is "#notmypresident"?
I do understand that there are many Christians who--for lack of a better word--hate Donald Trump. While it is your right, I hope that you find it in your heart to at least pray and discontinue speaking ill of him. After all, we are all sinners in need of forgiveness. We need to remember that we are all despicable in the eyes of God, and the only reason we have hope for the future is because of Jesus, a perfect and sinless sacrifice, died for us on the cross.
