Make A DecisionSample

Prayer: Before reading God’s word, take a few minutes to pray that God would open your eyes to the authority that He has placed in your life. Pray that God would show you how you can honor Him through your submission to authority.

For His Sake

In high school, I was an officer for our school drill team. This position gave the other officers and me a great deal of authority. We were, however, still under the authority of our directors. This was extremely difficult. We didn’t feel like our directors treated us fairly, we felt like they were constantly placing all of their responsibilities on us, and most of the time we wanted to rebel against them and do what we deemed “best.” However, looking back at the situation, what I was instructed to do by my directors never required me to disobey God. Most of the time, it just required me to do things I didn’t want to do.

In today’s culture, the word “submission” tends to leave a bad taste in our mouths, especially when it comes to submitting to those we consider “bad authorities.” However, the Bible does not make it difficult to decipher this issue. Paul writes that everyone is to submit to the governing authorities in our lives. He says to rebel against authorities is to rebel against God. These words were written when most people had little say over who their leaders were, and many of those leaders were persecuting Christians. We see this very clearly with David and Saul. David had been anointed to be the future king, and King Saul wanted to kill him. Saul threw a spear at David, had soldiers come to take him, and chased him all through the mountains. Through all of this, David always said, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?” (1 Samuel 26:9). David realized that if he touched God’s anointed, he would be guilty, for God had established Saul’s leadership.

Today, we have freedoms that first century Christians could hardly dream of. We typically don’t have leaders like Saul who are chasing after us, and yet we run from this “crazy” concept of submission. Many of us do not consider that our criticism or encouragement of rebellion against the leaders God has placed in our lives is not only disrespecting our leaders, but is disrespecting God. The reason we are to submit is for the Lord’s sake—that we may honor Him.

Submission is hard. It does not come naturally, but we have an amazing example. Let us always remember that Christ lived the perfect life of submission. He not only submitted to the Father, but to the unjust authorities. He chose to submit because of his deep love for us. Even when it is extremely hard to submit to the leaders that God has established for us, may we always remember the example of Christ, and His ultimate example of submission. 

Questions to ask yourself:

1. Think about the authority figures God has placed in your life. If you are not humble enough to come under the authority of any human being, what does this say about your willingness to come under the authority of God?

2. Romans 13:1 says, “There is no authority except that which God has established.” Do you tend to think of your authorities as purposely given by God?

What’s Next?

1. Take a few moments to write down the various authority figures that play a role in your life (parents, professors, political authorities…etc.). Spend some time praying for them and thanking God for them.