Nowadays, we seldom pray for those in authority. Instead, we often demean them. We insult them. Yet any believer who slanders a president or congressman or governor or mayor is breaking Scripture.

No one who says what I’ve heard many friends of mine say can possibly be praying for our governmental leaders, let alone praying for them with a fervent heart. I just can’t imagine it. Their words suggest a bitter spirit, and bitterness is a sin. If we’re not praying, we’re disobeying 1 Timothy 2:1-2, which commands us to pray for all in authority. The apostle Paul explains that praying for them is for our own good.

I’m not saying that in a democratic society one always agrees with their leaders (I certainly don’t). At election time we should vote. Yet disagreement is not a license to mock, profane, or denigrate our leaders.

I believe angry Christians are not just hurting themselves. As an evangelist, my greater concern is what anger is doing to the perception of the Good News of Jesus Christ among this nation’s non-believers.

Let’s be known for what we’re for, not what we’re against. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” [Joshua 24:15].

This is Luis Palau.