Rom 13:1 Be a good citizen. All governments are under God. Insofar as there is peace and order, it's God's order. So live responsibly as a citizen. 2 If you're irresponsible to the state, then you're irresponsible with God, and God will hold you responsible. 3 Duly constituted authorities are only a threat if you're trying to get by with something. Decent citizens should have nothing to fear. Do you want to be on good terms with the government? Be a responsible citizen and you'll get on just fine, 4 the government working to your advantage. But if you're breaking the rules right and left, watch out. The police aren't there just to be admired in their uniforms. God also has an interest in keeping order, and he uses them to do it.
The dictionary declares authority as: the power to determine, adjudicate, or otherwise settle issues or disputes; jurisdiction; the right to control, command, or determine.
It is important to respect authority, because authority is usually there to help you. People are in a position of authority for a reason, and earning that position deserves respect.
Lev 26:14 "But if you refuse to obey me and won't observe my commandments, 15 despising my decrees and holding my laws in contempt by your disobedience, making a shambles of my covenant, 16 I'll step in and pour on the trouble: debilitating disease, high fevers, blindness, your life leaking out bit by bit. You'll plant seed but your enemies will eat the crops. 17 I'll turn my back on you and stand by while your enemies defeat you. People who hate you will govern you. You'll run scared even when there's no one chasing you. 18 "And if none of this works in getting your attention, I'll discipline you seven times over for your sins. 19 I'll break your strong pride: I'll make the skies above you like a sheet of tin and the ground under you like cast iron. 20 No matter how hard you work, nothing will come of it: No crops out of the ground, no fruit off the trees.
Disobedience to God’s decree has such vast implications that ignoring it will lead to our downfall. Not just in our personal lives, but in everything that we do or attempt to do.
This applies even in the workplace.
In Romans we learn that all authority is from God. Even the boss we do not agree with. The task at hand that irritates the living daylights out of me, needs to be done in such a way and in submission to those in authority, that the act in itself, become pleasing to God.
Everything I do, at work, at home, reflects my status as a worshipper. Therefore everuthing I do, becomes an act of worship.
As I submit to those in authority, it becomes an act of worship to God.
As I submit, I declare that I am willing to do as God would want me to, and that is worship.
Lev 26:40 "On the other hand, if they confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors, their treacherous betrayal, the defiance 41 that set off my defiance that sent them off into enemy lands; if by some chance they soften their hard hearts and make amends for their sin, 42 I'll remember my covenant with Jacob, I'll remember my covenant with Isaac, and, yes, I'll remember my covenant with Abraham. And I'll remember the land.
Eph 4:14 No prolonged infancies among us, please. We'll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. 15 God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love--like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. 16 He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.
Our willingness to submit to authority and take the lead from those in command, will be the picture poster of our maturity.
Bruce Barton told of an incident in the life of Abraham Lincoln which illustrates a winning spirit. Lincoln, in search of firsthand information on the progress of the Civil War, sought out his general, George B. McClellan. McClellan was not at home when the President and a cabinet member arrived, so Lincoln waited an hour. At last the general returned, but instead of greeting Lincoln, he went upstairs and retired for the evening, sending a servant to explain that he was too tired to see the President.
Lincoln's companion exploded in rage, but the President laid his hand gently on the man's shoulder: "There, there, do not take it so hard. I will hold McClellan's horse if he will only bring us victories."
In his words we hear echoes of Paul's comment: "...I will not be enslaved to anything" (1Co_6:12).
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