Control vs. authority

I don't know about you, but what I'm seeing in the news about all this governmental regulation over everything from the economy to our kids causes me alarm.  I know Bible prophecy tells us these kinds of things are coming, that we're looking at end-times stuff, but wow, doesn't it seem to be escalating at an astonishing rate?  On a German news site, my husband saw where at an economic meeting in Switzerland of world leaders, the German chancellor proposed a global economic unification.  Right out of the pages of the Bible.

I've been thinking about control.  If you look at the whole picture of what sin ushered into the world, it seems that control is at the bottom of it.  Satan wanted control.  Countries and tribes and leaders wanted control of one another and their people.  Husbands and wives want to control each other.  Parents want to control their children.  Children want to control their parents.  I want to control my life.  And on it goes.  The root is pride and selfishness and independence, and the fruit is war, destruction, rebellion, oppression, and chaos.

But look at God's way of doing things.  He gives authority which is delegated power.  But it's not power to control, it's power to govern.  To lead by example.  To serve others over oneself.  I think this is where the whole idea of submission in marriage has gotten off into the ditch; people misinterpret the authority to mean control.  And who wants that?  Authority is actually a trust that benefits those under it--if it's handled right.

So if I have a clear understanding of this differentiation, it leads me to see that a government that wants to control is out of line, out of God's way of doing things.  No matter how earnest or great-sounding the rationale.  And if I'm trying to control others, I'm out of line.

May the Lord help those in our government--and me--to use the trust that's been given them rightly and wisely.  Amen.

That's my soapbox for the day.