Reflecting on the events surrounding Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refuses to betray her conscience and give in to the state’s monumental pressure to abandon her faith and issue same-sex “marriage” licenses, reminds me of the Apostle’s take on their experience with the authorities of their day in Acts.
They too were imprisoned for their faith. They dared to preach in the name of Jesus at a time when it was politically incorrect to do so. As in the case of Kim Davis today, the law was on their side, but the authorities of the day (the Sadducees) wanted them silenced. Exactly as is happening to Mrs. Davis today.
The Constitution prohibits the government from using the force of law to suppress the free exercise of religion (which of course means the right to live your life according to your faith), but the judge in this case, U.S. District Judge David Bunning, wants her silenced. Why else would he take the extraordinary step of imprisoning her when he could have simply fined her?
Everyone knows Mrs. Davis poses no threat to anyone. But the judge wanted her jailed because he wants to send a message to her and others like her to be silent and betray their Christian faith on marriage if they don’t want to suffer the same consequences she has.
Sure, same-sex “marriage” activists are all for strict adherence to the law in prosecuting Mrs. Davis now, but recall that these were the same people praising the president and other law enforcement officials when they violated the law prior to Obergefell – the case that invented a constitutional right to same-sex “marriage.” They were all for disobedience then; those laws were unjust to homosexuals, they thought.
Now those who feel compelled to disobey what they feel are unjust laws forcing them to betray their deeply held religious beliefs must be silenced at all cost. Preference compels them, not adherence to Constitutional law.
The Apostles were beaten and imprisoned for the same reason. But their view of the injustices they suffered is mindboggling. Acts 5:41 tells us, “Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name” (emphasis mine).
In the Apostles’ mind, to suffer in the name of Christ is a privilege! Oh, that we would have such perspective today. Oh, that we were found worthy, as Kim Davis has been.
I know it is hard for the world to understand, but there are truly much more precious truths to live for than the material and temporal. Kim Davis chooses the better portion when she chooses to remain true to her conscience and her God. She is freer in jail, with a clean conscience, than in the comfort of her home, having betrayed what she knows to be true.
It is why our Lord Jesus Christ told us, “[D]o not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” I pray God would grant me a “Kim Davis” type of boldness when my time comes.
This is possible because of what Paul told us in Romans 5: “[W]e rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (v. 3-5).
May the Holy Spirit guard and guide Kim Davis wherever she goes. And may it guide us in our journey to stand boldly for God’s truth, whatever the cost.