All Authority Is from Him
Lesson Four • Work to Rest
Devotion 5: All Authority Is from Him
Elijah Edwards
When I was younger, I made it very apparent to be a “rule follower.” I looked upon authority in my life and knew that I had to follow them. On my first day of school, the bus driver told us to look forward and be silent; so, in turn, I looked forward and was quiet. I listened to everyone talking and felt it was strange that I was the only one following instructions. Over time, I started to talk to my friends on the bus, and eventually, I even stood! Guess what happened? I would get in trouble for doing so. This started to make me really disrespect authority and not understand why I was in trouble. I did not like their rules and how they enforced them, even from a bus driver. I respected authorities that I agreed with more than those I felt were being too hard on me.
Take an honest look at your life. What authorities have you had a hard time agreeing with? Which ones do you follow more?
What makes it easier or harder to follow authorities in your life?
The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that we are all sinners. Since we are all sinners, we all have a drive to follow what we want and to be the authority over our own lives. Due to this fact, submitting to authority is hard to begin with.
Read Romans 13:1: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”
The opening line that Paul delivers in this passage is an immediate hot-button issue in our country. Regardless of where your political views lie, reading that instantly makes us think about how hard that already is to follow. I know for myself how difficult it is to have faith in what Jesus is commanding us to do.
Why do you think Paul would be stating this at the beginning of the passage?
Paul writing this would have also been a crazy thing to hear during his time. As a reminder to us, Rome was torturing and killing Christians. The Jews were also being persecuted by Rome after Jesus had risen. Hearing that they must “be subject to the governing authorities” would have been nearly impossible to hear without being confused.
Read Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Jesus tells us to come to Him for all who labor and that He will give us rest. If Jesus promised this, then let us look again at Romans 13:1, specifically the second sentence, “For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”
Paul tells us that there is “no authority except from God.” That means there is no governing authority on this Earth that has not been established by God for His purposes. We have seen this back in the Old Testament with Egypt, Babylon, and Persia. We see this today as well. Regardless of where you stand politically or your opinions on the matter, there needs to be a question:
Do you have faith and rest in the fact that Jesus has full authority over all things?
Do you have faith and rest in His promise that all authority on Earth is from Him and used for His glory?