Crime Stoppers
Our Civic and Christian Duty
Wednesday Bible Blurb 2/25/2026
I solved a crime. It was a dark and lonely night, a cliché, but true. The black and white TV was set to channel 52 and had little squiggly lines dancing across the screen as I watched the Three Stooges. My parents had gone out to dinner with some fireman friends, and I was home alone (They should make a movie about a kid being home alone). My German Shepherd was lazily resting below me and keeping my feet warm. Engrossed in the mirth and laughter of the antics of Larry, Moe and Curly, I heard a huge smash right outside our front door. I left off watching the Three Stooges as my curiosity got the best of my eleven-year-old mind and went out our front door. There, in front of our house in the dark night, only illuminated by a streetlamp was a huge four door sedan smashed into the back of a VW van. The van had been pushed hard up against a telephone pole, and the sedan was still pushed up behind it. I stood there, a bit stupefied as to what to do. The phone number 911 was not yet invented, and I did not know the number to call the police. So, I did what I could, I memorized and wrote down the license plate number and ducked back into my home unseen to the safety of my pet German Shepherd named Danger.
Have we ever thought about our civic duty to society? As Jesus told us, we are to serve and love others. When asked what the greatest commandment of the law is He answered directly, “Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt. 22:37-39 [NKJV]). Jesus gave us civics and a Chrisitan living lesson about loving God first and loving our neighbor too. Our Chrisitan duty is to love God and our neighbor; this makes for good civics. Let’s look at some examples of our Christian and civic duties.
Civics are simply about our obligations as citizens to be kind to others. Sounds a lot like Christianity and being kind to others (Loving our neighbor as ourselves). How can we do both at the same time? What are our Christian duties?
-We are to preach and teach the gospel of the kingdom of God, go to all nations and baptize. (Matt. 28:19-20). Talk about great civics, the great commission is the beginning of it. Imagine how wonderful the world will be when everyone practices good civics.
-Paul told us directly what we should be doing with our lives, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” (Rom. 12:1). The great apostle felt it was only reasonable or put another way, the very least we can do is to SERVE others. Serving others is great Chrisitan civics.
-Again, Paul teaches us a Christina civics lesson about giving. “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. As it is written: “He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.” Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, 11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. 12 For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (II Cor. 9:6-15, emphasis verse 12). Preaching the gospel and going to the world and in serving the brethren creates a reasonable financial obligation to the civics minded Christian. We are to help with the “administration of this service” and to sow bountifully to the church which feeds us our spiritual food.
-Jesus reminds us of what it takes to be good civics minded Christian. “Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.” (Matt. 20:26). Even if we are happily engrossed in our favorite Three Stooges episode (Or maybe Gilligan’s Island) we must take from ourselves and reach out and give love to others. We serve others as our civic Christian duty.
-How do we know when we are being civically minded Christians? Is there a standard for us to gauge our behavior towards others? Yes! We are shown the standard of behavior is, “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” (Gal. 5:22-23). The fruits of the spirit are a wonderful lesson in individual civics as we take care of others.
Let’s not fool ourselves into becoming a Christian Criminal (Oxymoron, “a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.” [google definition]) and forget to serve others. We have a duty to perform which is our reasonable service. Preach the gospel (live the gospel), give to the church serve others humbly and ask God to help us live the civically minded fruits of the spirit.
It was a couple of hours before my parents came home from dinner the night of the great accident. I had gone back inside, kept quiet and somewhat hidden in my home with my large German Shepherd waiting for my parents to come back. When they did come home, they were aghast at the damage to their fireman friends VW van. Both the back end and the front end had caved in, and we were lucky the telephone pole/power line did not come crashing down. The van was totaled; no one had left a note on the van. It was a hit and run, plain and simple. No evidence, no witnesses, just a huge disaster for the happy folks who had just come back from a lovely dinner. What a way to end a wonderful night out. When my dad, the fire captain, came into our home he asked me if I knew what had happened. I told him my story and handed him the piece of paper with the license plate number and the fact it was a large four door sedan. I had done my civic duty as an eleven-year-old. The crime was solved. The perpetrator of the hit and run was caught and prosecuted. Oxymoronically the perpetrator was a policeman driving under the influence of alcohol. Moses gave us a bit of a civics lesson to: “…you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out.” (Num. 32:23b). Let us all exercise our love for others by being good civically minded Christians.
Mike Wallace
