Feb. 18: YOUR GOD IS TOO SMALL

Your God is too small if you have to ask the Government for permission to pray. Your God is too small if you have to ask the Government for funds to do the work that God wants you to do. Your God is too small if you need “big brother” to protect you in your worship and service. It is especially important for us to understand as we celebrate our liberty and freedom of conscience that the cost for that today is to be borne by us. That’s the way our Founding Fathers planned it and it worked for them.
Government subsidy has no place in Church ministry. “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God ” (Matthew 22:21 NIV) is the Biblical injunction. Our forefathers knew the importance of the idea of religious liberty, that’s why that famous clause about Congress shall pass no laws governing religion was written. Don’t lose sight of that.
God has made out well without government support or approval. Think! If government can tell you what you can do in your spiritual life, it would also want to tell you what you can’t do. If you take money from the government, you open the door for the government to tell you how to spend it. In the early days of this Commonwealth of Virginia, the State tried to tell Baptist ministers they could not preach because they were not licensed by the government. Thank God, they kept preaching, even though it cost them public whippings and being jailed. The Bill of Rights came out of that movement.
It is easy to forget lessons from History. The temptation is to look for an easier way. Getting public tax revenues to support religious beliefs and programs is wrong. Biblically, no one can make you pray or stop you from praying. God takes care of His stuff.

“Thank You, God, for the gift of a free conscience and for freedom
to worship you according to our heart’s direction. Amen”