GodReflection: Power Words

Last year I racked up two tickets for moving violations.

That’s a nice way of saying Mr. Policeman caught me speeding—at least that’s what he claimed.

No one was in harm’s way. My encroachment of just a tad above the speed limit caught only the attention of the radar gun. There was no grace. The authorities expected payment. I complied both times. The remorse came from my checkbook rather than my heart.

Ok, I get it. God ordains authorities, although I don’t always understand the selection process. It would be a stretch of truth to say that love for the policeman and the judge drew obedience from my checkbook.

Authority is a word of various textures. World leaders possess authority over select regions.

Parents, employers, administrators, teachers, soldiers, trustees, courts, and coaches, all wear the stamp of authority.

Their authority is seen–for the most part–as received by pecking order.

Authority—when moved to the realm of the eternal—assumes the descriptors of perfection, purity, and absolute. God’s radar gun is dead-on accurate. He shares total and complete authority with Jesus.  There is no overruling God. He is authority.

Here’s what I think.

In the beginning, I suspect my submission to God’s authority came about with the grand desire to escape hell. With maturity and growth, I came to understand the significance of God’s sacrificial gift through the birth, death, and resurrection, of Jesus.

Gratefulness replaced hell avoidance as motivation to live under God’s authoritative hand. As my walk with Jesus developed further, gratefulness took on the dimension of love. No pecking order here.

Sure, I want to walk through each day with the recognition of God as being my ultimate authority. However, I no longer need the threat of ultimate hell sending authority to keep me on the straight and narrow.

The power word authority helps me to remember that the one who holds definitive authority loves me. He will provide a new heaven and a new earth by His power and authority.

Through the authority given to the Son, Jesus claims me as a brother. I get to be a resident of God’s new creation by that authority. That is an authority to anticipate.

Stay tuned.

Dr. Gary J. Sorrells  –  A GodReflection on Authority as a Power Word.

Gary@GodReflection.org