Purpose And Power Of Authority (6 page)

As a result of the misuse and abuse of authority, our world—especially the present generation—has an underlying current of distrust, disrespect, and fear of authority. Some people have come to even reject any semblance of authority. Others have come to believe that suppression and oppression are natural components of authority, or at least ones that are to be accepted, tolerated, or endured. These long-established concepts of authority and the behavior that results from them are the fundamental cause of many of the problems we face in the world today. They are essentially destroying people, preventing them from becoming all that they were born to be.

Even though we can understand and sympathize with the above reactions and emotions, they are not healthy, and they will do nothing toward helping us to exercise our own inherent personal authority.

The negative experiences we’ve had with authority inevitably have an effect on our fulfillment and effectiveness in life. Therefore, let’s leave behind our prior misconceptions of authority and move past our reactions to the misuse and abuse of authority and instead discover the nature and principles of true authority.

I like to call authority the “beautiful principle” because it’s not about “lording it over” others. It’s about making smooth paths for people. It’s a means of providing the resources, protection, refreshment, enlightenment, growth, happiness, fulfillment, satisfaction, and contentment we all need.

In the next chapter, we will explore the nature of true authority, and what this nature is based on.

Chapter Three

In the last chapter, we looked at some poor and destructive substitutes for authority. To recognize and understand true authority, we need to explore the source, or origin, of human authority and the inherent purposes of that authority.

The “Copyright Owner” of the Earth

The English word authority comes from a Latin word, auctor. Auctor means “promoter, originator, or author.” What is an author? A simple dictionary definition is “one that originates or creates: source.” An author is the originator or creator of something. In many countries, the copyright of authors of literary or musical works and the patents of inventors are highly valued and protected by law.

Let me say here that every human being has the right to believe what he wishes to believe, and I respect and would defend his right to do so. In our modern age of so-called enlightenment, many have opted to believe that they are by-products of an evolutionary process and are children of apes. However, it is my firm conviction and belief that human beings have an Author—the Creator of the world—who is the source of our very lives, in addition to our authority. Our Creator, or God, is the originator of the world and everything in it. We call God “God” because He is the natural author of all creation. The word God refers to “the supreme or ultimate reality: as the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshipped as creator and ruler of the universe.” Though many people have tried to infringe on or deny His “copyright” on them, it still remains His and always will. This principle of the Creator’s authority is fundamental and essential to understanding the nature and power of your personal authority.

The Right of the Source

God, the self-sufficient One, is the Author, the Originating Cause, the Creator of all things seen and unseen. He is the absolute rightful Sovereign over all He has created. It is God “for whom and through whom everything exists” (Hebrews 2:10).

The Creator gave everything existence, and He has the power of life itself—the ability to give life and to take it away. From our perspective as human beings, there’s no greater authority than that! Many people are literally looking for a fountain of youth, and, figuratively, they are looking for eternal life. Yet only God can give eternal life. Jesus of Nazareth said, “The Father has life in himself” (John 5:26).

In the first book written by Moses, the great leader and lawgiver, it says, “In the beginning God created [authored] the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). David, the musician-king of Israel, wrote, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1). Everything that exists on the earth—plants, animals, birds, reptiles, oceans, land, human beings—as well as everything in the vast universe—is owned by God. Nobody has a right to counterfeit what He has “written” in the foundations of the world or to usurp what He has made.

An author or creator is always the source of the authority of his work, whether it is a book, an appliance, a car, a house, or an aircraft. For example, I am the author of a number of books, and I could teach all of my books without looking at the published volumes or my original notes for them because I’m the source of them. People may use my books to teach others, but as the author, I can speak conclusively about what is in them and my purpose for writing them. Everything an author or inventor produces is created because there is something he desires to communicate or to make that initiates its production. It is created for a reason.

The source of a product therefore has the legitimate right to state the framework of the authority he puts into his product and the way the product functions best. This framework is what we call the principles or laws governing it and through which it operates. For a product produced by a company, the framework for that product’s authority would be its user’s manual. In this way, not only is the company or creator itself the authority, but its documentation of the principles and laws governing the product become the authority, as well. The product manual is not produced by a wholesaler, retailer, or consumer but by the one from whom the product originated. Their opinions and preferences for the working of a product may be interesting, but they are not the authority; they are not authorized by the maker and can’t be guaranteed.

The Ultimate Authority and Source of all human authority is therefore the Creator, as well as the principles and laws He has established concerning humanity, which are recorded in the Scriptures. Anything that doesn’t correspond to them or reflect their essence and spirit is not true authority. Opinions that don’t correspond to the Creator’s original design cannot be guaranteed. What people theorize about humanity and creation is not the question. The question is, What did the Manufacturer say about it?

If we want to live in the reality that comes from following the principles governing true authority, we must get in touch with the Source and find out His parameters for our lives. This is how we protect and preserve ourselves as human beings.

A principle is an established law or fundamental rule under which something functions due to its nature and design. The principles we need to apply to our lives are inherent in creation, timeless, and permanent. They were established by the Creator to secure and protect the functions and fulfillment of His creation. Principles are called by various terms in the Scriptures, such as “commandments,” “precepts,” “statutes,” and “the ways of God.”

Authority is a principle in itself, but it also functions according to specific precepts that we must understand in order to appreciate and benefit from it.

Under the copyright laws of the United States, even though an author is the owner of his work and has full authority in relation to it, he also has the power to share the rights of that work with someone else or to transfer those rights entirely, so that the other person becomes a “copyright claimant” in relation to the work. This occurs through a written document by which the author grants permission for the transfer of full or joint ownership of the rights. Rights can also be legally transferred by will or inheritance; if the author dies, the rights are bestowed on a designated relative or friend.

Similarly, the Creator, as the Author of our world, and having ownership of it, delegated some of His authority by entrusting it to human beings. He shared authority in relation to His “copyright” of the earth so that we could exercise that authority both in and over the earth. It was He who designed us with the ability to carry out our individual and collective authorities in the world.

In what manner did the Creator grant us this shared ownership of the world? He did not give us authority as a form of transaction between business associates. He shared it with us in the way a father would share what is his with his children. We were made to share in the Creator’s inherent authority by being made in His own image, by being made as His “offspring.” In this way, authority has been built into our very existence as human beings:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26–27)

To show human beings the authority He had placed within them and to instruct them in it, “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground’” (Genesis 1:28).

We were made—literally—for authority. Human beings have been given both a general authority over the earth and a personal authority that is specific to each one of us.

The Creator operates in the universe in conjunction with His authority. We were made to receive authority from Him and, in turn, to operate according to this authority and the principles He has established for the earth.

Our authority is manifested in a number of ways and in various realms of human interaction and endeavor as we are fruitful with our lives, as we fill the earth, and as we rule over it. Our understanding of the Creator’s authority and purpose, and our response to them, are demonstrated by the extent to which we fulfill our authority.

It is not only human beings who function through authority but also all of creation. In nature, we can clearly see some of the ways in which the Creator has established authority to be a principle in the earth. For example, when He designed the world, He created it to function under two distinct periods, day and night. Interestingly, Moses described their purposes in terms of authority:

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.(Genesis 1:14–18)

Our life on earth is governed by days of approximately twenty-four hours in length, and by seasons, both which were established at humanity’s origin. We obviously don’t have the ability to change the reality of days and seasons. We have to respect the “authority” of the sun and the moon—the two lights that “oversee” our world. Generally, things slow down at night, not only because people are tired and have a biological need for sleep, but also because night is a less conducive time to work. The world also takes on a different atmosphere after dark. It is quieter and a time for reflection and rest rather than production. Of course, we can work with artificial lights, but no one can keep up round-the-clock activity indefinitely. In addition, fewer people are available to interact with at night because they, also, are governed by the parameters of this daily cycle. So, we are governed by the nature of days.

Seasons also have “authority” over our lives, as well, affecting when and how we do things. Even in locations like the Bahamas where it is warm year-round, seasons govern the times during which we engage in certain activities. For example, although many tourists visit during the fall and winter seasons and swim in the ocean, most Bahamians think they’re a little crazy to do so. They won’t go swimming until it’s good and hot—at least 90 degrees! In regions where the seasons go from one temperature extreme to the other, people alter their behavior to fit the changing weather conditions. We all have certain habits and behaviors and patterns of life according to the seasons, and, in that sense, they exercise authority over our lives.

In another example of authority in nature, God created animals and plants in various genuses and species—He made them “according to their kinds” (Genesis 1:11–12; 21, 24–25). Each species is unique and was created to fulfill God’s purpose under its own authority of existence.

If we really want to know the purposes for which God created the heavens and the earth, therefore, we have no choice but to consult Him as the Author. The sciences can provide us with some answers regarding how things function and what they consist of, but they can research only what has already been made. When a scientist discovers an aspect of life that has been functioning since creation, we sometimes seem to give him almost as much credit as if he had created it! We may award him a Nobel Prize or other award. While we can value scientists and their findings, we need to think of them with proper perspective. Again, science can simply discover what the Author had already put into creation.

Moreover, discovering something is one thing. Understanding why it was created is something else. I believe that most people haven’t really been “discovered” yet in terms of knowing why and how they were created. Few people understand who they really are because they are not in touch with the Creator. Only an author truly knows his work and why he wrote it. Only an inventor really knows his invention and why he created it.