Honoring Authority
I need to preface this by saying if you know me, I am the last person to ever write about respecting authority. I’ve been rebellious since I was a small child. I question everything. If there is a rule, I want to break it. If authority is posed upon me, I want to fight it. I don’t like rules, especially when they don’t make sense. I love order, but only when it's completely logical and benefits everyone.
All that being said, I have been challenged for years now on my position with respecting authority. The Lord has been stirring in my heart, sometimes to my great dismay. He has been showing me how unproductive and dishonoring my rebel ways can be.
Even before the current circumstances I have gone head to head with unfair laws my government has passed. When Obamacare was first passed I was livid. We had one of two options: buy extremely expensive healthcare that was out of our budget and literally covered nothing anyways, or pay fines. I couldn’t stand it. I wanted to protest. I was a tax paying American who was being subjected to tyranny in my eyes. I wanted to fight, I was ready to rebel. I was angry, I was afraid.
I started evaluating my response and questioning why I was so angry. I talked to the Lord a lot about that circumstance and one day he reminded me: “I’m bigger than this”. I stopped fighting it. I stopped protesting and whining and complaining. I started trusting that if it was imposed on me, God would provide for it. I submitted to authority and did what was asked of me. When I gave in, became humble, and trusted the Lord, things fell into place. My eyes were opened and I found a loophole to get out of either option. Without dishonoring my government, without slandering them and complaining about them, I found a solution to my problem. My issues didn’t end with Obama, however.
It’s no secret that I cannot stand our current president, or most of the conservative government for that matter. The sight of our POTUS, even his voice, makes me nauseous. I disagree with him on just about every topic. Even worse, I am surrounded by people in my community that absolutely love him and I can’t wrap my head around it. It’s been a thorn in my side since 2016. Some days it bothers me more than others.
Not very long after the election, I heard a sermon by Kris Vallotton in which he spoke about authority. Even though I love his teachings, I was getting upset by his support of our president. It was bothering me. I felt like he was wrong, everyone else was wrong. I, of course, was right. However, there was one thing he said in that message that stuck in my head and I couldn’t shake. To paraphrase, he said that if we expect our children to respect our authority, we need to model it by respecting and honoring authority ourselves, including our president.
The thought of that made my face scrunch up and the thorn in my side to turn, partially because I knew he was right. Slowly, gently, my heart was softening. I still disagree with our president, but maybe a little more respectfully now. I don’t like how our president does things, but then again, God has placed him in charge, not me.
And I’m not always right.
“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.”
1 Peter 2:13-17 NIV
There are dozens of times, both Old and New Testament, where the Bible talks about the benefits of submitting to authority. We are actually called to it. Jesus even told us in Mark’s gospel to pay our taxes and obey the government. “Give Caesar what is Caesar's and give God what is God’s.” To understand how to submit to God’s authority we must also submit to the authority God set over us in human form.
I’ve even experienced it in churches. Rather than submit to decisions passed down by leadership it is more common for people to just get up and go to another church. Division happens left and right because of our own internal, rebellious, desire to be right. Someone isn’t doing it like we want it done so we fight it. Dishonor is everywhere.
Especially now, just this week, I’ve seen it more and more. I’ve seen pastors mad at the order from the government to disband large gatherings and defying them, sometimes to unfortunate endings. I’ve seen people buying into every conspiracy theory you can think of. I’ve seen protests and the very beginnings of rebellion. Even in my own heart my anger and fear has turned to blame. I’m forced to not work, but there is no support. I have no income, because of my government's orders, and I am not getting any compensation.
But God is bigger than this.
We are to submit to authority, whether we like it or not. We are asked to stay inside and social distance to potentially save the lives of others. Even if you don’t believe in the virus, it’s what our government is asking. They aren’t telling us we can’t worship God, our bibles are not being burned. We just have to get more creative with how we get together.
What if instead of slandering our leaders and our government, we honored them? What if instead of sharing Facebook posts and rants based in no fact at all, what if we took ten minutes a day and just prayed for our government and the situation they are facing? What if we focused on helping and encouraging others instead of focusing on what we can’t do? What if we focused on what God is doing and not solely on what we think our government is or isn’t doing right? I’m guilty of all of that, complaining and not praying, focusing on the wrong place.
But God is bigger than that and He has grace for me. I’m learning, ever so slowly, that I can do things how God designed or do things my way. He will still love me either way. However, there is something beautiful about doing this how He intended. I determine the peace and joy I allow in my home, I determine the peace and joy I feel in my heart. I’m keeping that peace and joy today by honoring authority. I’m going to live like God intended.
God knows best, and He’s bigger than this.
