Authority

Been meaning to clarify something I wrote last week but haven't been able to set it down into words.  Cue Holy Spirit bringing me to a verse as I worked on my school assignment-

Titus 2:15- Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

I said something last week about not wanting to sound too authoritative. However, I have no issue standing on the authority of Scripture, on the promises of God and how they have been revealed in my life, and in trying my best to base my life on that belief system.  What I am not an authority on is living a perfect life and doing all of that without fail.  I think that's an important distinction, because many times as Christians I think we feel unqualified to speak about things because we know our own heart and the struggles we face.  We know that we say and do stupid things, we know we know better, and so we let either guilt consume us or fear of being called hypocritical keep us from standing on God's Word.

But we can.  We can claim God's authority on our lives, even as we are still figuring it out.  Because we are always going to be figuring it out until we are made perfect in Christ.

The interesting thing about this verse is that I could not get a definitive answer about the grammar of the sentence from Greek (probably because I don't really know anything about Greek).  The way it is written, is it saying that we teach, we exhort, and we rebuke with authority, or is it that authority carried across all three of those (if I were writing it in English clearly it would become "with authority we teach, we exhort, and we rebuke)?  What I really discovered is regardless of the exact intent of that specific verse, we are given authority to teach and we are given authority to exhort.  Teaching in some form is the calling of all disciples, whether it's done on a small scale or a large scale.  That can be intimidating, but we can trust God's Word to speak into all lives.  It's also exciting to think that God wants us to encourage each other.  That we aren't meant to face life alone.  That we can comfort others because we have been through difficult times.



And so I will keep writing authoritatively, not because my words are powerful, but because God's truth is undeniable.