Submission, Obedience and Authority, Oh My!

“For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” (Luke 7:8, NKJV)

Submission: Ahhh…there’s that lovely word that some cringe at the sound of! 

Submission defined is: The action or fact of accepting or yielding to a superior force or to the will or authority of another person.

Obedience defined is: Compliance with someone's wishes or orders or acknowledgment of their authority.

A quick disclaimer: 

Let’s not go off the deep end with this. Let’s all operate in wisdom. If an authority figure is telling us to do something illegal, immoral, or unethical, obviously we don’t do it because God is our final authority.

A recent Facebook post from a close personal friend set my brain to some very deep thinking.

“When someone asks what exactly I do at WOW (Walk on Water Faith Church, www.faithman.org) I always respond, "Whatever Pastor Loretta asks me to do." Why? Because that is what I am called to do even if it is outside my comfort zone or my known gifting. God will equip me for whatever I am asked to do AND prosper it because I simply obeyed. Hopefully this will help more of you find your place in the Kingdom of God.” Gwen Payne

I am the president of our family owned business. Being in that position of authority has taught me about submission. We have five locations on four different Hawaiian Islands. We have over a dozen employees. Over the past several years, the employees at our business have been indirectly teaching me about submission to authority. I ask them to do something and they do it. I say, “Will you please _____fill in the blank_____?” And they immediately respond with, “Yes”. They don’t quiz or ask for full disclosure before doing what I ask. Sometimes, they don’t agree with me. But I make decisions from a different vantage point. I am privy to information they are not always privy to. We are blessed with the best crew God has available. I would walk through the fire with any one of them. They are phenomenal group of individuals and we are very grateful for each of them. I am especially grateful to them for teaching me this lesson on authority.

I equate my position of authority in our company much in the same way as my pastor’s position of authority at church. I am learning how to submit to his authority on a new level. I am learning how to submit to his authority on a deeper level, not because he is perfect but because my attitude in submitting to his authority is directly linked to my obedience to God.

Our pastors may not always do everything exactly how we would like to see them done. Nor will they always take the church in the direction we would like to see it go. Doing what God has called them to do isn’t a power trip and a lot of the time they make decisions that are not even remotely fun. Oftentimes, they are called to do what is very difficult and must be obedient to God’s prompting. God didn’t call me to pastor. He has called me to be obedient to His Word.

"God will equip me for whatever I am asked to do AND prosper it because I simply obeyed." Gwen Payne 

We would love to hear from you! 

Tell us, what have you learned about submission?