me and my girls

Authority Figures

Have you ever been pulled over? Ever gotten a traffic ticket? If you have, you know the feeling I’m about to describe… you know, when you’re driving too fast around a curve and then out of nowhere coming toward you in the opposite lane is a cop… Isn’t that one of the worst feelings ever? As soon as you see that black and white car, you know you’re driving too fast, you know you probably deserve a ticket and your stomach flies into your throat as you attempt a discreet reduction in speed without looking too obvious. As the police officer drives past you, what do you do? You check the rear-view mirror to see if those brake lights come on… is he going to stop? Is he going to turn around? Just keep going, just keep on going…

I remember the first time I was sent to the Principal’s office in school. I was in seventh grade life science and I was acting like a total stooge. I was always loud, but this particular day I was in rare form. I interrupted the lesson again and again and was doing anything and everything to make the other kids in the class laugh at me. My teacher had put up with my ridiculousness all year long and was now over it. She sent me out of her class and to the Principal… Whoa. I had always heard of this form of punishment, but didn’t know it actually existed. That walk down the hall was one of the longest I’ve ever taken. I had been an idiot and I was on my way to the school’s ultimate authority figure. Once again, my stomach was in my throat.

I think the thing that seemed so scary about facing the police officer and the principal was that I was guilty. I wouldn’t have any problem facing some authority figure if I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I had! I was in trouble and I was going to get what I deserved! I was thinking about worship and reading God’s word and how, if you think about it, those could be the scariest things to do in the world… You see, worship and reading the word are basically all about meeting with God. When you worship, you are meeting with God, inviting the Holy Spirit to show up. When you spend time in God’s word, you are facing Him… facing His very words to you. Is there anything more frightening than that? Getting a ticket is one thing, and going to the principal’s office is another, but to face the Holy God… the Creator and King of the universe... who can stand this?

Now, it wouldn’t be so bad if we weren’t guilty, but we are! Every one of us has an immeasurable debt of rebellion and disobedience that we can’t pay. To meet with God ought to be the scariest thing we could ever do in our whole lives! I was thinking about this the other day when I read something Paul said in Romans 8:15 “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship and by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” What Paul is saying is that although we are guilty, God has done something about it… He sent His own Son to pay for our guilt with His death, giving us the right (by faith) to become God’s own children! We are not facing some angry, spiteful God full of fiery vengeance, but our very own Daddy. When we meet with God, we meet with one who loves us like a Father, but like no father we’ve ever known, because this Father has perfect, infinite love and He governs and guides our lives with perfect, infinite wisdom. His Son has taken on, paid for and removed our guilt. There’s no need to fear. He’s not a cop or the principal, He’s our Dad.