It can be a radical switcheroo in your thinking: authority has nothing to do with value or worth or how good you are or how smart. The one in authority is not ‘better.’
It starts with the one who invented authority. It’s who he is. God – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who are all God, all eternal, all so united that they’re really one – has an authority lineup within himself. There’s a head and there’s submission. (If that doesn’t make sense, see THIS and THIS.)
And it’s seamless. Even embraced. They (He) really like it that way.
Each is a distinct person – but none act independently or in opposition to the others. They cooperate for a common purpose. There are no arguments within the Godhead. There is harmony. No harshness.
There is no trying to win – the Father, Son and Spirit are not trying to prove themselves to each other. None of the members of the Trinity wishes they were another. They experience unbroken fellowship with each other.
Yet, one has authority over another. And you hardly feel or notice it.
Jesus is not second class deity, or inferior, or stifled, or held back from reaching his full potential, just because he does not have the authority of the Father. Can you imagine him thinking that? This sounds crazy talking about Jesus that way, but that’s what you hear it means if you don’t have authority.
Can you imagine the Holy Spirit grumbling because he never gets to do the sending or because he’s always bringing attention to the Father and Son?
They all accept and embrace their different roles so fully that you hardly even notice that they have different roles. That’s the original; the prototype of authority – and the whole earth is filled with copies of the original.
And if God has intended to reproduce himself and put himself on display on the authority channel, you might think he intends for that display to look and function like the original. Or at least as much as it can in a fallen world.
And so maybe suddenly your everyday authority relationships – with your spouse, parents, kids, boss, employees, government, church – begin to take on a whole new perspective. As if they're all a set-up, a stage, to tell a story...
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More of The God Show. We’re on the authority channel. The previous post is HERE. You can find out more HERE.
The God Show is five channels (in addition to the Bible) that don't change over time or according to culture, where God's ways, invisible attributes, eternal power and divine nature are clearly perceived but often missed: 1. Nature, 2. Authority, 3. Family, 4. Marriage, 5. You. Really, he's all over the place.
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