I have a problem with authority. Specifically, I think I ought to have authority over my life. Which doesn’t sound ridiculous, but it is. Check out these examples.

Luke 14:18-20 - The Parable of the Feast

“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’
“Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’
“Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’”

All these guys thought they had a good excuse for not going to the King’s feast. Investments to study and check on (land), a brand new SUV to drive around (oxen), or even a family (wife) – pretty lame excuses. Kind of like the song “Mood Ring,” by Relient K: “She liked you Wednesday, but now it’s Friday, and she has to wash her hair….” Point is, the root of these excuses is that we generally think we have something better to do with our time than God does, so we think we deserve the authority.

John 12:42-43

Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.

But Jesus, I won’t be cool if I go home early Saturday night because I have to get up for church Sunday morning! The guys will think I’m a square if I go to Bible study on Thursday night instead of wings night at the pub!

John 10:32-33

Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?”
The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.”

Yeah, that’s why we stone Jesus in our hearts. Because we think we ought to have the authority over ourselves. We want to worry about our investments, drive new SUVs, and be “in” with the crowd. We want everything in this life. And then this Jesus character comes along and says, “Nope. If you want to know God and go to Heaven, then I’m in command.” John 14:21 says that if we love Him, then we’ll give Him the authority in our lives.

I want to live forever with Christ. I want him to be my LORD and savior. So I have to give Him the authority in my life.