Authority — a higher calling

Over at Philip Faustin’s Thoughts, there is an excellent post on the subject of authority.

He says that authority is everywhere. Speed limits. Red lights. Rules. Regulations. Expectations. He’s self-employed and realizes that even in that his supposedly liberating work scenario; he’s not free from the authority and expectations of his customers.

We cannot get away from authority, and yet we bristle at it.

Blame it on Watergate or Vietnam or crooked CEOs or dishonest politicians. Blame it on anything you want, but we are naturally rebellious against those who would tell us what to do.

Philip says,
“Sometimes we have a hard time doing what we are told. We think we know better or have a better way to do something. Maybe we are convinced the authority is wrong.”

This is true in many places and is most at display at work. How many times do we yield to authority, yet still undermine the plan, wiggle to get out work or scheme to shuffle the most onerous elements somewhere else.

But for the Red Letter Christian, we have a higher calling.

Philip continues,
“We don’t get to make our own rules and we don’t get to bend the ones that exist. Authority brings peace in our lives. It makes things go the way they should. It brings order.”

And those twin pillars of a peace and order are things this world desperately needs. Might this be a call to bring authority back into our lives?

“Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.”