An Invitation to Insanity

 

You have often heard, “God will never place more on us than what we can bear.” But, conversely, do we place more on ourselves than we can bear? 

Today is a time filled with stress. In older days, our main concerns were infectious diseases. Today, stress is the primary cause of physical problems.  We often feel overwhelmed in an over-complicated life. One reason we suffer from an overabundance of stress is we take on responsibilities that God never meant for us to carry. Each of us possess certain gifts and talents, and the Lord knows what those attributes are. Likewise, He knows how much stress we can take. God’s way of rescuing us from stress over responsibility is by placing people in authority over us.

When we have someone in authority over us to shoulder decisions and subsequent responsibilities, it relieves pressure in our lives. However, when we want to not only have input, but also control every situation, we feel responsible for things God never intended for us to feel. This is insane.

It has become extremely unpopular today to teach anything that resembles voluntarily submitting to any authority.  We feel, “Why should I surrender my freedom to another? He or she will just take advantage of me. No one is going to tell me what to do.” All of us, however, have people in authority over us. These people are given to us by God, to protect us and relieve us of responsibilities that overload us.

When I go on a mission trip, I am there to minister. Although I am the pastor of the church, I submit to the one who has planned the trip. In doing so, I do not have to deal with passports, visas, luggage at the airport, transportation, and accommodations. I have God-given responsibilities at church, at home, and for my own personal wellbeing. Why should I take on responsibility that God has called another to take?

Children often cry, beg, and manipulate to get their way, but parents are there as God-appointed authorities to protect and make good decisions for them. In Ephesians 5, when Paul speaks of a wife submitting to a loving husband, he says it with the idea of protecting the wife from an overload of responsibility. After all, doesn’t she have enough decisions to make every day in the lives of her children, and the job she may have outside the home? Would it not be better to give input on a decision knowing that, although she may influence her husband, he will take the responsibility to make the decision, based on what is best for the family? 

We live in a society where people want input, and often authority, for every decision that affects their lives. Often, they do not realize that with authority comes the weight of responsibility—usually responsibility that affects others.

The church is seeing these same issues. Submitting to any authority seems old-fashioned. However, when we insist on not being submissive, four things result.

1.  We do not learn to trust God. Trusting authorities God places in our lives is a major part of our relationship with Him.

2.  We live in a “stress bowl.” We not only make decisions, but have to accept the responsibilities of those decisions as well. This is a recipe for insanity.

3.  We rob others in their walk with Christ as they grow by serving and leading others.

4.  We open ourselves up to rebellion. “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry…” (1 Samuel 15:23a) As we leave the umbrella of authority God has placed over us, we lose our mind’s protection and open ourselves to Satan’s thoughts, as one involving themselves in witchcraft—again, an invitation to overload insanity.

How do we avoid this insanity?

                1.  Ask God to reveal your responsibilities to you. Who is counting on you? What is your role?

                2.  Support those in authority over you. The more authority you have, the more responsibility—the more responsibility—the more stress. Be sure it is God giving you the authority.

                3.  Pray that God will teach you to trust Him as you submit to those He has placed in authority.   Relax, rest in Him.

I hope this helps. 

What are your thoughts?