By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Respect authority
pastor corner

The generation that I grew up in was, for the most part, a group of individuals who had respect for authority, and where I lived, the authorities earned that respect.

In Romans 13:1 we are told, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God”. Even though this scripture is referring to government authorities here, the principle throughout scripture is that we should live out our lives with respect to all sorts of authority such as parents, teachers, and law enforcement, just to name some of the key ones.

Let me just give you some illustrations of what I am talking about. In the home I grew up in, my father and mother expected their kids to do what they asked of us. We were taught the commandment, “honor your father and mother”. Kids in general respected their parents and kids who didn’t were considered “bad kids”. If you could look at how kids turned out in that generation, you would probably see where the kids who respected their parents turned out, generally speaking, better than those who didn’t.

Also we were taught to respect our teachers and our teachers expected respect. If we chose not to, then we could expect to be punished and when we got home we could expect be be punished as well.

We were also taught to respect law enforcement. My father set me down when I was becoming a teen and said to me, “son, if you ever do anything that lands you in jail, then I will not bail you out. So, don’t do anything that will result in you being there”.

I do believe that those who practice what the Bible teaches about respecting authority have been and will be rewarded. Life in general will go better. I know that there are a few in authoritative positions that haven’t earned respect but I do believe those are few.

I think we need to get back to obeying biblical principles and our world will be a much better place.

Sign up for our E-Newsletters