Authority

Mark 28: 27-28 The chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?”


We live in a society that wants to question the very existence of God. Many who might say there is a God would say he has no authority over them. They view God as a distant observer if God is involved at all. The more important question is how much authority do you give to Jesus. The men questioning Jesus were the religious leaders of his time, but they did not recognize the authority of God working through Jesus even given all the signs and wonders. Do you as a Christian give Jesus authority over your life.


I love a song by "Casting Crowns" with the following words. 


Somewhere between the hot and the cold,
somewhere between the new and the old ,
Somewhere between who I am and who I used to be,
Somewhere in the middle you'll find me.


Somewhere between the wrong and the right,
Somewhere between the darkness and the light,
Somewhere between who I was and who your making me,
Somewhere in the middle you'll find me.


Just how close can I get Lord to my surrender,
Without losing all control,
Fearless warrior in a picket fence,
Reckless abandon wrapped in common sense,
Deep water faith in the shallow end,
And we are caught in the middle
With eyes wide open to the differences,
The God we want and the God who is,
Will we trade our dreams for His,
Or are we caught in the middle.


Jesus wants complete authority in our lives or we bounce from his will to ours and wonder why it doesn't work. Are we just caught in the middle re-capturing control every time we face anxiety or fear? The God who wants to change the world through you can't do much with a caught in the middle life. Are we really much different than those religious leaders in Jesus day? Aren't you asking the same question by the daily choices you make? Who does have ultimate authority in your life?