Honoring Authority within God’s Big Picture (Part 1):God Paints Our Responsibilities onto the Canvas of Life

We need explanations. No, we demand explanations. We want equality and justice. We want life to be fair. Well, maybe not fair as much as going our way. We wish life would happen the way we think it should…because it’s ours.

It’s ours!

I know this isn’t how all of us feel. In fact, I think most of us reading this post are not this way. But there are many who value themselves and their rights so dearly, that they step out of line. We may slip sometimes, too, and veer away from God’s authority system.

I’m rewriting two posts from 2017 about honoring the authorities in our lives:

1.  Do We Stick It Where It Suits Us?

2.  A Clarification: Do We Stick ItWhere It Suits Us?, Part 2

I know rewrites are a no-no, but these posts just don’t feel effective. For various reasons, they seem to cause confusion and unsettled emotions. I didn't write what I meant to say (see Melinda Inman’s post called Writing What We Mean). So, I’m offering three replacement posts that I hope are clearer and more cohesive, and very applicable to everyday Christian living.

Here are the titles for the replacement posts:

1. God paints our responsibilities onto the canvas of life (this post)
2. God frames ever-changing hues along the path toward honoring Him
3. God adds texture to our portraits with visions of a masterpiece

On to the first post…

God Paints Our Responsibilities
Onto the Canvas of Life

Farther than we can see through the telescopic expanse, and deeper than we can probe into microscopic life and matter, are the intricacies of God’s big picture. There is a great big picture we do not have the capacity to see. As we age, we notice more, but we just can’t see it all.

God can. It’s His picture.

I often complain about things not going my way and I sometimes push and shove to make my day better. When I do, I’ve lost sight of this simple fact:

God painted a bigger picture in
the foreground and background

of my portrait.

God’s big picture includes so much more than we can ever imagine, and, because we’re in the picture, we have a responsibility to those near us as well as those very far away. We’re all in the picture and He painted each of us differently, along with those who stand in positions of authority.

  

David humbly honored his superiors. He was accommodating and compliant. Early on we see his respect for his father, the prophet Samuel, and God (1 Samuel 16). Maybe respect came naturally for him because it seems everything David did was as if it were done for God. This should be our approach as well.

 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart,
as working for the Lord, not for human masters…
It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Colossians 3:23-24

These verses specifically address subordinates, and many other portions of Scripture support the same idea [examples in Footnote 1].

As unto the Lord, and in light of God’s big picture, here are a couple things we can learn from the honor David reserved for the authorities in his life… 

1. The more we recognize God as the painter, the more we honor our authorities.

God painted the authority figures in our portraits. With great leaders in mind, we readily accept this truth, but it’s also true of those whom we’d rather see step down. They didn’t sneak into the picture on their own. We might see them lobby for prominent positions, or even lie and cheat their ways onto the canvas, but they didn’t get there without God first appointing them. God painted them as He wished and where He wanted:

parents

spouses
church leaders
employers
government authorities

Scripture supports each of them as specially positioned by God (references in Footnote 2). We can probably assume all authority figures are assigned by God.

David honored King Saul as God’s choice, and he honored God by waiting for Saul’s tenure to conclude according to God’s plan and timing. He understood that God appoints governments and rulers.

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities,
for there is no authority except that which God has established.
The authorities that exist have been established by God.
Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority
is rebelling against what God has instituted...

Romans 13:1-2

I realize it’s hard to accept this truth today. There are many who don’t live up to their roles as authority figures. But don’t forget it was also hard for David and for many others throughout biblical history.

We cannot question the decisions God makes in His sovereignty.

We don’t have a seat at His decision table,
and we would do well to respect Him for it.
Otherwise, we defy Him.

How often do we push back when a decision doesn’t go our way, or when a comment doesn’t match our biases? Consider for a moment:

o      Do our desires and points of view differ from God’s?

o      Can God call us men and women after His own heart as he did David (Acts 13:21-23)?

2. The more we revere God’s big picture, the more we value our everyday tasks.

God painted so much outside of the frames of our selfies, but maybe we miss it. Maybe we let people and peripheral activities go unnoticed sometimes. Do we limit our attention to our immediate?

•  Will my family get along today?
•  Will I have a good commute?
•  I hope it won’t be a long day at work/school?
•  When will I get a job/raise?
•  Will he/she finally notice me?

Of course, we should spend time pursuing our ambitions and passions, but God painted more, including less exciting things. Call them mundane, monotonous, or menial. We have responsibilities. Everyday tasks. Maybe they’re activities that help us remain healthy, or stay organized, or make life better for our families. Many of those activities are expected of us.

When it comes to our everyday work,
God wants us to do it out of honor for our authorities,
in acceptance of His sovereign decisions,
and as unto Him.

God chose David to be king, but he had to wait over 20 years to receive the crown. In the meantime, he honored his predecessor by fulfilling his everyday duties.

•  He was King Saul’s personal musician, a.k.a., servant.
•  He played soothing music to calm Saul’s tormented heart.
•  He was summoned to live with Saul for reasons that suited Saul.
•  He was Saul’s personal armor bearer, but he didn’t get to bear Saul's armor in the most significant battle of his armor-bearing career: when they faced the Philistines and their giant Goliath.

So, David, at times, probably stood at the crossroads where we tend to ask ourselves, “Why hasn’t anything changed? Why am I putting up with this? This is not working for me. How can I get out!?”

But David didn’t ask those questions. As we discussed earlier, he treated his duties as assignments from God. That’s why…

…when the Israelite army went to battle without him, he returned to his home to shepherd his father’s flock (1 Samuel 17:12-15)

…when his father asked him to take bread to his brothers on the battle line, he obliged him wholeheartedly (1 Samuel 17:15-20)

…when Saul decided David had become a threat to his kingship, David didn’t fight back, but remained on the run, living in the wild, with limited resources and sometimes none at all (1 Samuel 21)

Sure, David wondered about his situations at times, but he didn't complain. He maintained his respect for the journey God set before him. He fulfilled his duties under King Saul (musician and armor bearer), to his father (shepherd and bread courier), and to God (faithful follower who succeeded by honoring God’s choices for his life). He even accepted his position under Saul as a battle regiment captain and didn’t shy away from certain missions where he’d face scores of enemies while Saul hoped that he would be killed by the Philistines (1 Samuel 18).

You probably already realize that this article speaks just as much about honoring our superiors as it does our equals and our subordinates. David’s honor and respect were not dependent on relation or interaction.

Our disposition reflects our attitude toward God.
The way we treat others is the way we treat God.

We’ll cover more about honor and God’s big picture in the next 2 posts. For now, in all honesty, how are we doing? I struggle.

o      Do we honor the authorities God placed in our lives?

o      Do we respect them enough to follow through with our responsibilities under them?
o      What does our response to authority say about our relationship with God?

Read Part 2 and Part 3.

Watch a short kids video version of point #2 on YouTube.

  

Footnote 1: Colossians 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians6:19-20, 10:31-33; Matthew 4:8-10

Footnote 2: Proverbs 6:20-21; Romans 13:1-7; Ephesians 4:11-16, 5:21-6:4; Colossians 3:22-4:1; Hebrews 13:17; 1 Peter2:13-18, 5:1-11

If you have questions about honor and our authorities, or if you want to know more about living for Jesus and what it means to be a child of God, please email me at authordlv@att.net.

Read more blog posts here.

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