“Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king” (I Peter 2:17).

The Bible commands Christians to: “Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor” (Romans 13:7). Peter says to render honor to all men and, in particular, the king—who, in his day, was wicked and immoral, yet still worthy of due honor because of his office.

We have no king in our country, of course, but the principle applies to all in authority, especially to our president. It has been traditional to have a special day of honor, including a national holiday for our presidents, called Presidents’ Day, and this is probably appropriate, since all of our presidents are entitled to all due honor.

Even wicked emperors like Nero were among “the powers that be” which “are ordained of God” (Romans 13:1) and “God’s ministers” (Romans 13:6). They must give their own accounting to God, but they must be respected and obeyed by Christians, except when their decrees conflict with God’s commands (Acts 5:29). We can be thankful that all of our own presidents have at least been nominal Christians, acknowledging God’s sovereignty over our nation and its people, faithfully proclaiming an annual Day of Thanksgiving and at times calling for national prayer.

It is all too easy for us as Christians to criticize our national leaders, but “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (I Timothy 2:1,2). As we honor our past presidents, we must also be even more careful to pray for our present and future presidents. HMM