Finding and Flourishing in Your Place in the ChurchSample

POSTURES TOWARDS AUTHORITY

There are three positions that people have towards authority. These are rebellion, slavery, and submission. Submission is the Kingdom position derived from an understanding of the attitude of a person receiving authority.

Submission says, “The person in authority and I are created equal but assigned differently, so I submit.” Such a person is submitting to the difference in his make-up relative to that of the person in authority so that the assignment they are to do together can be successfully accomplished. Headship is where vision and instruction flow from. Submission is what takes place after a vision and instruction are known.

Rebellion: The person that rebels against the authority is the person that thinks (in his attitude) that he is superior to the person in authority and takes a position of rebellion and insubordination in himself. No grace flows on the rebel because of this. The Bible says that a rebel shall dwell in a dry land (Psa. 68:6). In the midst of river and rain, the rebel is the only one that would always remain dry unless he adjusts his attitude.

Slavery is what makes a person under authority take a position of inferiority to the person in authority. The person with a slavery mindset sees the person in authority as doing him a favor. This mindset is what operates in some cultural spaces where wives take on the position of slaves to their husbands. A wife is not a slave in the house; she is a companion.

PRAYER: I submit myself to Kingdom authority. I resist pride and every high-mindedness in my life. Slavery and rebellion are not my portions in Jesus’ name. Amen!