Many people seek to influence our life but are not qualified authorities to do so. And we don’t have to look far to see many others also abusing the power given to them. But none of this should cause us to abdicate the true authority God has given to us to bring order and life to the realm of our influence.
From the very beginning, we’ve been charged with the responsibility of caring for all that God has entrusted to us. And part of this responsibility is the power and right to make decisions, set boundaries, and provide direction for others to follow.
Of course, this is easy to see at work. For better or worse, the CEO has been granted the authority to run the company and the freedom to do so as he sees fit. But even here his authority is not absolute, and he generally must still submit to the company’s board of directors.
And a similar dynamic plays out in our life and relationships as well.
For instance, on the home front, we’ve been authorized to set things in order and to provide what’s needed for those entrusted to us. And this might include making many hard decisions as we’ve been called to love, not to make happy.
But while there’s great freedom here, we cannot simply push our own agenda or to otherwise get others to do only what makes life comfortable for us. Our authority is not absolute, and we must ultimately submit ourselves to God’s authority and his standards for life. Our authority is to be ministers of his love – executing his truth and goodness within our kingdom.
And we allow chaos to reign and heartache to increase when we don’t exercise the authority given to us.
In the end, you’ve been given the power and right to make things happen. Exercise the true authority God has given you to bring more life and goodness into the world.
Photo by Kevin Butz on Unsplash
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