Authority

My oldest daughter, Christina, has a giving heart.  She also loves kids, so she volunteered to help out in the nursery on Sunday mornings, at Church.  She was young at the time, maybe fifteen, so she didn't have much experience with young kids.  I came to watch how she was doing, one Sunday morning.  What I noticed was that she was given the authority, by the Church, to take control of the kids, but she wasn't very good at exercising that authority.  She would say to them, "Everyone, please sit down and listen."  Or, "Please don't run, or climb on the tables."  But the kids did as they pleased, ignoring Christina, as they did what they wanted.  I watched as she stood in the middle of the commotion, trying her best to get them to listen.  She didn't stand her ground, she was unsure of herself, and the kids could sense that.  She didn't fully understand the authority that she had been given, and the kids ran around her, taking advantage of the situation.

A boy, Nicholas, the same age as Christina, was also given authority over the class.  I noticed that when Nicholas told the kids to do something, they listened and responded to him.  Nicholas exercised his authority by standing his ground with those kids.  Even though these kids were to young to understand respect, they gave this boy their attention, and did the things that he asked them to do.

Both Nicholas and Christina had equal authority, but these kids listened to the boy and not to Christina.  This situation got me thinking about Jesus, and the authority that He gave us as believers.  Like Christina, some of us are timid in using that authority, because we don't fully understand it.

In Matthew 10:1, Jesus called his twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits, also the authority to heal every disease and sickness, in His name.  In Matthew 18:18 and 19, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven.  Again I tell you, that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my father in Heaven.  For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

It's been many years and Christina has graduated Collage, now.  Even though she lacked the cofidence to control her kids in the nursery, she has taken the time to develop the skills that she needed to control and teach a class of kids.  Nicholas, the boy in the nursery, understood and used the authority he had been given, in the same way some believers understand and use the authority Jesus has given us.  And like Christina, in the nursery, some believers have to learn and mature so they too can use the authority given them by Jesus.

After collage, Christina took a job at a day care facility.  She also worked there with young kids, the difference being she learned and understood the authority that she held, and she exercised that authority over the kids, and they did listen.

Matthew 28:18-20, "Then Jesus came to them and said, 'all authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everyone I have commanded you.  And surly I am with you always to the very end of the age."