Because of my job, I am constantly praying for teenagers. One of my biggest prayers is that they would live in a
trusting relationship with Jesus Christ. My prayer is that they would believe
that God has a perfect and life-giving plan for their life. I believe when we
settle for anything less than God’s best for our life, we are missing out. I don’t want them to miss out on God’s best for their life. I am constantly trying to drive home the truth that I will not judge them for the decisions they’ve made, nothing they’ve done can
disappoint me, nothing they’ve done will surprise me, but if there is an area or
areas in their life where they are selling themselves short of God’s best for their
life I can encourage them to look to Jesus. I can pray for them to not settle,
but to save themselves for only God’s best. God’s best is laid out for us in His
word. Here is one particular text that speaks to an area of getting
after God’s best for us. And one way he does this is through people in our life
– namely – authority.
Romans 13:1-5 (NLT)
Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all
authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed
there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what
God has instituted, and they will be punished. For the authorities do not
strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong.
Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and
they will honor you. The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good. But
if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power
to punish you. They are God’s servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing
those who do what is wrong. So you must submit to them, not only to avoid
punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience.
The past couple of weeks HUB has been focusing on drinking.
Two weeks ago, Angie Ammon shared her heart with us. I haven’t been able to
stop thinking about Molly and how she died from drinking too much. My prayer
along with Angie’s is that lives would be saved because of Molly’s story. Last
week we looked at Ephesians 5, a passage that told us we can’t be filled with
Christ when we are filled with alcohol. You can’t have both – you can’t live
for God when you are living for yourself and consumed by drinking and partying.
So this past Sunday night we looked at a passage about authority. How authority comes from God.
We learn that the authorities are God’s servants, sent for our good. It all
goes back to God’s best for our lives. There is a reason why the drinking age
is 21.
Why 21? Is it just a random number the government decided? Through my research, I thought it was cool to see that this law was just another way of God protecting us and of God desiring what is best for us. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 made the legal drinking age 21 in the United States. Before this was passed, researchers discovered that the human brain continues to grow and develop until the age of 21. Alcohol, therefore, has a more dangerous affect on these developing adolescent brains than it does on adults 21 and older. You see, it isn't some random law. It is all apart of God's good plan for our life. (Want to read more? Here's a website with easy take-away points http://www.legalflip.com/Article.aspx?id=20)
CBS did a report on this, too. Check out the difference in brain activity between a 15 year old non-drinker and a 15 year old heavy drinker. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-1778434.html
Here’s the thing with submitting to God. It’s an act of
trust and a leap of faith as we let go of our way and grab ahold of his way.
Our lives are a reflection of our response to God. We are
either choosing to love him and follow him or we are choosing to love
ourselves. God has put in place people of authority to help guide us. People in
the government, our parents, our teachers, our pastors…all of them are there to
help us. The authorities are God’s servants – sent for your good. When we rebel
against those in authority, we are ultimately rebelling against God.
It’s a heart thing. At the core of who we are (our sinful
nature) we have a heart of rebellion. But Christ was sent to overcome our
rebellion. So we can choose to rebel against God and live a life that is consumed
with me. Or we can submit our lives to God. The thing that is incredible
about God is that he doesn’t force us into submission. The choice is left up to
us. That’s how much he loves us – he doesn’t force our hand – but allows us to
decide for ourselves which of the two paths we want to take in his gift of free will. So we can either
choose the road that leads to life with our Savior, life in a trusting
relationship with the one who knows us best - or we can choose the
road that leads to life away from God, doing things our own way, and living
through the consequences of life separated from our loving God.
The choice is up to you. But I can promise you, living life loved by our Savior is the ultimate life path.
