MedCom Series! "Follow Me"--Authority

Another semester ended and has begun again, so I thought I would do another meditation commentary series.  These are short little 300 word posts relating two concepts from Scripture together.  Last time I did this in December the focus was Design, as you can see here: What's a MedComm Anyway? (Repentance and Design).  This semester the theme was 'Authority', and each post reflects how the broad concept relates to either a command of Christ or a character quality.  Love to hear your thoughts on any of the concepts!

   Authority

Honoring the responsibilities of parents, church leaders, government, and other authorities and learning how God works through them to provide direction and protection. Honoring my authorities brings Inward Peace.

Follow Me Meditation Commentary

“And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” —Matthew 4:19

 “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”—II Corinthians 4:5-7

            Authority is a concept from which we tend to shy away a lot of times.  The innate pride, rebellion and selfishness that threatens to rule our lives as humans is in complete opposition to the concept of authority.  We may not cringe at the thought of all authority, however—only the authority that is over us.  As humans, we do not like to be told what to do, but as Christians, it is imperative to recognize that God needs to have complete authority over our lives, and that He places others in authority over us as well.  There is something wonderful that pervades God’s authority though.  Sometimes when we think of authority, we think of a power-hungry tyrant, with armies of brutal soldiers at his command, or a ruler snapping principal who is intent on enforcing the ‘no chewing gum in class’ rule, or a police officer who is delighted to give us a ticket for going 3 over the speed limit.  God’s authority is not the authority of an iron fist, however.  In fact, we do not even have to submit to it.  He gives us a choice.  “Follow me,” is the command of Christ.  We can choose to place ourselves under His loving rule or not, but once we put our hands to the plow, and declare Him Lord, He expects us not to look back, or we are not fit for the kingdom of God.  Once we follow this command, any other authority in our lives must fall under that umbrella.  The Apostle Paul wrote, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”  (1 Cor. 11:1)  Clearly, the Apostle Paul was seen as an authority in the Corinthian church, but he made it clear that the authority was only valid if he was under the ultimate authority of Christ. Our job is to follow Christ wherever He leads.  If another authority in our lives is following Christ, then we fall right in line behind that person.  On the other hand, if an authority in our lives makes a break from that path of following Christ, our duty is to keep on the straight and narrow path of following Him, and ignore the road the other person takes.  We see this concept over and over again when the Bible talks about authority.  “Children, obey your parents in the Lord,”… “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord.” (emphasis added.)  We are told to submit to governments, but when the government comes in between us and our Lord, we are to have the same response as the apostles in Acts 4:19: “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto ye, rather than unto God, judge ye.”  When we think about authority, the command of Jesus needs to be our top priority: “Follow me.”  All other authority falls beneath that command.