Some people respect Donald Trump. Some people don’t’ respect
him. He’s done some helpful things for this country while being in office. For
example, when was the last time you heard about ISIS? His team has been working
diligently to eliminate ISIS. But he’s also done some things that appear, at least
at this point, to be detrimental to this country. For example, he has been
exchanging verbal threats with Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, who now
claims to have a nuclear bomb button on his desk that he’s not afraid to use.
Has Donald Trump earned my respect? Not really. Did Barak
Obama earn my respect? Again, not really. How about George W. Bush? Eh, not
exactly. What about Bill Clinton? He didn’t earn my respect either. All these
guys are merely human beings who make mistakes…lots of them, just like everyone
else who has ever been the President of the United States. I have very high expectations
for people to earn my respect. If every President of the United States has to meet
my expectations in order for me to respect them, then I’d have no respect for
any of them.
What about a boss at work? Maybe it’s your direct boss. Then
again, maybe it’s a boss a few rungs up the ladder. I once had a boss a few
rungs up the ladder who did very little to earn my respect. First of all, he was
a bully who regularly used his position of authority to poke fun at people who
were lower on the totem pole than him. Second, he didn’t appear to be standing
up for us, the people working for him, when conversing with other managers
across the company. And third, it was well-known that he had been cheating on
his wife. Why should I respect him? He didn’t do anything to earn it.
Or how about our parents? I am very grateful to have parents
who have earned my respect. But not everyone has parents like mine. What about
the young woman whose parents disowned her? What about the young man whose dad
told him he was a poor excuse for a son? Or what about the young woman whose
mother sexually abused her as an infant and whose dad, who knew what was going
on, did nothing to stop it? How are we to respond to these parents? The actions
of these parents don’t give their children any reasons to respect them. If anything,
it seems like their kids would be justified in disrespecting them.
At different times in life, we all find ourselves under the authority
of a person who fails to earn our respect. How do we respond to these people?
Do we respond by disrespecting them? Or do we respond by respecting them, even
if they do nothing to earn it?
Should We Respect People with Authority?
If you’ve read some of my other posts, then you probably realize
that I believe God has the highest level of authority of anyone in the world. And
I believe the Bible to be his Word, meaning that it is also authoritative.[1]
According to the Bible, anyone who has authority over other people has it
because it has been given to them by God.[2] When
we don’t respect our authorities, we are in turn disrespecting God since he is
the one who put those authorities in place.[3]
Therefore, if we claim to be followers of Jesus, then we also must respect the
people who have authority over us, whether or not they seem worthy of our
respect.
In theory, it sounds pretty easy: respect your authorities.
But oh how hard it is to actually live this way. How do you respect a President
who appears to fire everyone who reports him for misconduct? How do you respect
the boss who pokes fun at you while you can do nothing except sit there and
take it? How do you respect the parent who sexually abused you as an infant? I’m
definitely not 100 percent there, but here’s a brief overview of what has
happened in my life which has led me to respect my authorities, whether or not I
feel like they have earned it.
Why I Choose to Respect My Authorities
For many years, I believed God was in some type of control
of the universe, but I wrestled with his level of control. Some days I
concluded that he was in control of everything and other days I concluded he
was in control of nothing. How in control is God? Most of the time, I believed God
created the entire universe and everything in it, but I didn’t think he was
actually in control of everything that takes place in the universe. I wouldn’t
say I believed he took a completely hands-off approach, but for the most part,
I thought he left the universe to play out however it played out.
But this belief poses a problem: How could God claim to institute
the authorities on earth if he has little to no involvement in the things that happen
on earth? He can’t. He’d be taking credit for something he didn’t do. It’d be
like me taking credit for a beautiful rainbow in the sky when I did nothing to
put it there. Thus, God is either taking credit for something he didn’t do or
he’s much more involved in the daily operation of the universe than I believed.
A few years ago, my beliefs began to shift. The Holy Spirit
led me to dig deeper and deeper into the Bible, and then began to open my eyes
to see just how deep and wide God’s control spanned. Kicking and screaming the
whole way, my beliefs shifted to the point where I now believe that God is completely
sovereign over all of his creation, meaning that he is in absolute control of
everything that happens here on earth. Therefore, if God is truly in control of
everything that happens here on earth, then he can rightly claim to have
instituted every authority on earth.
But we can’t stop there. The Bible also says that everything
that happens on earth happens for a reason.[4] God
has a purpose in doing everything he does.[5] For
me to resist something that happens on earth displays a lack trust in God. Do I
trust that he knows what he’s doing, or do I think I know better than him what’s
best? When I resist what he does, I am essentially saying that I know better
than him. On the other hand, when I go along with what he’s doing, especially
when it’s not what I would do, then I’m displaying trust in him.
This shift naturally led me to begin respecting the
authorities in my life, not because they did something to earn my respect, but
because of the trust I have in God, my Lord. God placed Donald Trump in the
authoritative position as the President of the United States. God placed my boss
in his position of authority over me. And God placed our parents in their
positions. To fail to respect them would be to fail to trust in God.
What Does It Look Like to Respect Our Authorities?
I want to end this discussion by attempting to provide some brief
guidance that will help us live in a way that is respectful to our authorities.
When I use the term respect, I’m referring to an attitude which is manifested
through our actions. One of the biggest ways we can tell whether we respect
someone is the way we desire to talk about that person with others. Do we
desire to talk positively about that person or do we desire to talk negatively about
that person? If we find ourselves constantly complaining about the person, then
we probably don’t respect him or her.
To respect someone doesn’t mean we have to like everything he
does or says. We don’t have to believe that everything he does is worthy of respect.
And we don’t have to like everything we have to do as a result of his
decisions. But that doesn’t give us a right to treat that person disrespectfully.
To respect our authorities doesn’t mean we blindly follow
them without exercising discernment. Discernment is one of the gifts of the
Spirit,[6]
meaning that we are called to exercise great discernment. One of the toughest
challenges we will face in respecting our authorities is found when our discernment
tells us that something our authorities have asked us to do comes into conflict
with living in obedience to God. Our obedience to God is always more important
than our obedience to our earthly authorities. But we can’t use this as a pass
to not obey our authorities when we don’t want to do something. In my life, when
I don’t agree with something a person in authority asks of me, I will provide a
logical explanation to explain my reasoning, but will end by stating that I
will do whatever is asked of me, as long as it doesn’t come into conflict with
my obedience to God.
If we truly love God, then we will respect the people who he
has placed in positions of authority, not necessarily because they are
deserving of respect, but because God is worthy of our trust and respect. I don’t
say this as a guilt trip; I say it as a cold hard fact. How would our world be
different if everyone treated their authorities with the highest level of respect?
–
Do you respect the people who have authority over you? If so,
why? If not, why not? How does the realization that God has placed these people
in their positions change the level of respect you have for them?
[1] “All
Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, and for training in righteousness…” – 2 Timothy 3:16.
[2] “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.” – Romans 13:1.
And as Jesus said to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor
in Jerusalem, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been
given you from above.” – John 19:11.
[3] “Therefore
whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who
resist will incur judgment.” – Romans 13:2.
[4] “And
we know that for those who love God all things work together for good.” –
Romans 8:28
[5] “I
will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my
sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is
called by my name, whom I created for my
glory, whom I formed and made” – Isaiah 43:6-7 (emphasis mine).
“My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my
purpose” – Isaiah 46:10.
[6] See
1 Corinthians 12:10.
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