Conversation following Disciple I Class has led me to a few thoughts about the word for the night: Authority. Authority can be experienced as a top down action. We see the face of an authoritative parent, a commanding officer, or a controlling spouse. Such authority holds us by sheer power, or intimidation, or fear. It is rarely life-giving and often resisted.
The authority of Scripture in our lives is a bottoms up authority. The same could be said of the Lordship of Christ in our lives. Such authority is born of trust, faith, hope, love, and obedience, all actions driven by free will, as we rise up to follow. (This is the ascent of the heart.) It is also born in remembering who God is and how God’s steadfast love has never left us. We rise up like yeast bread in a loaf pan… to be conformed to the shape of the pan… shaped in a way that is useful. We follow, like following the lead of a skillful dance partner, trusting that we will be led with joy in the Dance. Claiming such authority and living daily into such authority is life-giving, freeing, and abounding in joy. In it we know the abundance of God’s promise.
Next week the word is: Wonder. Where will that take us? Blessings, all. Lib
2 Comments
Like a dance…I knew you would figure out how to make some kind of reference to Dancing with the Stars. Seriously, thanks for helping us think about God’s authority as opposed to the kinds of authority we encounter in this broken world.
As we reflected and discussed what it means to place ourselves under the authority of scripture, I thought of “authority” in a different way – as in someone who is an authority on a particular subject; an expert in the field; one who has considerable knowledge and is trustworthy. To place myself under the authority of scripture means that I accept the Bible as the expert on God, and can learn so much from reading it and applying it to my life.
Psalm 150:4 “Praise him with tambourine and dance…”
It’s biblical.