Who's the Boss?

Do you remember that sit-com from the late 80s?

Tony Danza, Judith Light, and Alyssa Milano (I used to wanna be her SO bad!) starred in the 30 minute show that highlighted the tensions and the relationships between an advertising professional, her housekeeper, each of their own kids and her mother. The theme song was catchy and the stereo-typical roles of men and women were challenged, but the conflict was always neatly resolved before the end of the show - even if they never really, directly answered the question of the show's title, "Who's the Boss?".

When I go to work, I am "the boss" for about 50 people (give or take 1-5). Yet, I still answer to the authority of my supervisor, the preschool minister. Officially, she and I both in turn are subject to the pastor. Unofficially, I also answer to the parents of the preschoolers who are enrolled in our program. They pay for their kids to come, so in a way, they could be seen as my bosses too.

I get these relationships. My parents taught me from an early age to respect authority. I had a public school  teacher once who explained that even if a person failed to acknowledge authority on a lesser level that there would be another, stronger, higher authority that they would one day be forced to acknowledge, even if that meant being cuffed and carted off to jail. This has always made sense to me. I am thankful by His grace that I grew up in a home where I was taught about authority.

There are some in our society that would say that this sort of understanding is lacking in our psyche today and it is the very thing that is wrong with our world. You don't even have to watch a full 30 minutes of the evening news to see countless ways that various people have assumed that they didn't need to submit themselves to some form of authority or another.

Police shootings (where police are doing the shooting AND where they are the ones being shot.), government corruption, and even vehicular "accidents" caused by yet another DUI- the lack of respect for authority is all around us.

However, this kind of rebellion is nothing new. Mankind has been a rebel-without-good-cause since the Garden of Eden. We don't need people to be more respectful of the laws or of the police or even of each other.

People truly need to be more respectful of God's authority.
 
And by "people" I really mean "me."

When I look at the world around me from this perspective, from His perspective - I have more respect for the other authorities that He has placed over me - the law which tells me I should not exceed a certain speed limit, and the police officer who pulled me over for a broken taillight - among other authority figures.

I also have more respect for those I share oxygen with when I stop and see them from His perspective. Even if I didn't or couldn't see the value of those around me, I should still show them love simply because He said so. This is just one of those areas that He has explained why we should do what we are supposed to do. We are all His image bearers.

God's authority cannot be made into an 80's sitcom. There is nothing funny about it. He is our ultimate authority. Like I said in my last post, whether we acknowledge it or not, He is. It is His judgement that we will one day surely face regardless of how we chose to live our lives.

Maybe we don't have authority issues with the police or even our bosses. But until He returns or calls us home, we will all continue to struggle with rebelling against our Ultimate Authority Figure.

Thinking on this, I know I need to spend some time both confessing and praising-confessing my rebelling ways and praising that I am judged not by my own deeds, but Christ's. By His blood I am forgiven AND made righteous before my Boss.

This is REALLY good news. When I humble myself and acknowledge who the Boss is -not Bruce Springsteen, but a loving Father who by His endless mercy and grace takes care of my problem with authority, I am overwhelmed by Who the Boss really is and His relationship to me.