Authority God's way...

I've had to ask myself the authority question a lot in the last couple days. Here at college we've had some issues with the authorities set over us and it hasn't done us any good. We set ourselves above them, in our own eyes, thinking that we knew better than they. I admit that though I didn't openly practice rebellion, I thought it; and that is just as bad Christ says. Nobody is innocent here. We all want to be independent, to be our own person. But I think we fail to realize one thing...

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. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ~Romans 13:1-2

God is the ultimate authority over us and He is the one who can delegate that authority to others. We weren't against authority in general, but we wanted to be our own authorities and that can never be. We must all, believer and unbeliever, eventually answer to the Lord for our actions and our thoughts. There's no way around it. 

 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.  ~Matthew 18:15-17

There's a specific order to God's system of authority. His system is a confidential system to begin with but it all depends on how we receive correction. When we breach His confidentiality it becomes gossip because we don't have all the facts. Can you see now why He hates it so much? Course, this is all fine and good, but we aren't perfect and we can't never mess up! What happens when we do?

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.  ~Matthew 18:21-22

We forgive each other, and move on. We don't dwell on it. We get right with God and each other and start over with a clean slate. That's the beauty of forgiveness -- we can fail miserably, but God doesn't hold it against us once we repent. 

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,  for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.  ~James 1:2-5

So in conclusion, we need to remind ourselves of God's authority and strive to live by that knowledge. But whenever we fail, we can't beat ourselves up over it. Forgive and let live. Move on. Remember why we face trials and ask the Lord for the wisdom and strength to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.