The King's Signature

"St. Wolfgang and the Devil" by Michael Pacher

In 1990, a bill was approved by the Belgian Parliament that would legalize abortion. The king at the time, King Baudouin, morally opposed the bill. But as with most monarchies in modern times, a king or queen's approval is basically formality with little or no consequence. So, given his firm stance against abortion, and not having the power to simply quash the proposed legislation, King Baudouin asked the government to declare him "unable to govern" for twenty-four hours so that he'd have no part in the bill and would not have to sign it, though his signature would have only been formality.

King Baudouin's integrity made me think of how we as Christians should avoid evil even in its "formalities," so to speak - the king so despised what he felt to be wrong that he gave up his powers, however limited and formal, to avoid even putting pen to the paper that represented it. 

I wish I had those kinds of guts. I wish I could stand so firmly in my convictions that I refuse to be linked to evil even in a form so small as my signature: "Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?"

"Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." -James 4:4