Set Under Authority
The thought of yielding control is uncomfortable. Add to it that you must yield to someone you don’t agree with, or has down right made you mad, and discomfort becomes disdain!
You and your boss have different views. Your teacher clearly isn’t being logical. Customer no-service got the best of you. Your client changed their mind one too many times . . . We have all encountered it one way or another, friction with authority—those people God has placed in your path to serve.
One of the most dangerous places we can get as believers, is living a life of disrespect. It begins subtly in our thoughts. Then it grows to grumblings, which turn into gossip and slander, leading to resentful attitudes. And before we know it, we’re our 17-year old selves again! Rolling our eyes, snapping back and shrugging our shoulders at responsibility.
Ok, maybe you were the one teenager who survived growing-up without arguing with your parents or teachers. The point is it’s a difficult place to be. Especially when there are reasonable grounds to disagree with your authority figure. Sometimes, they’re actually wrong. Sometimes they’re not treating you the way you deserve to be treated. We get bitter and resentful. It’s human nature. But if we’re not careful, we unintentionally place ourselves in a prison of discontent.
Shift your focus! The Lord has not forgotten you, nor is He blind to your situation. He is simply more concerned with your character and your obedience to Him, than with placing you in a perfect situation. If our pain and frustration never outweighed our comfort, we would never change.
Refining processes are rarely easy or comfortable.
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10 NKJV).
Freedom comes in changing our focus. When we view life through the lens of Colossians 3:23, as to the Lord, we find ourselves content in any situation life throws our way. Then we are able to serve at our fullest ability, because we know at the end of the day, our worth comes from God.
You may not always agree with your leaders and superiors, but God is weaving together His perfect plan for you, and they’re there for a reason—at least for now. Today, decide within yourself you will choose to honor them as an act of worship to God.
Submit and love. Take a deep breath . . . and do it again.
And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men (Colossians 3:23).
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