Authority

We recently saw the second Boss Baby movie in the theater. And one of the characters, Armstrong, asked a very good question during the movie. He said, “why do parents get to be in charge anyway?” 

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The Bible tells us in Romans 13:1, “All of you must obey those who rule over you. There are no authorities except the ones God has chosen. Those who now rule have been chosen by God.”

In other words, our parents, teachers, etc. have been put in charge by God. And that means that we must obey them! God chose your parents. He chose your teacher. He chose the people who are in charge. So we must respect them and honor them. We must listen to them and obey them. 

A few verses later in Romans 13 it says that those who are in charge or that “rule over you,” as the verse said, have someone in charge of them too. They are serving God! They are responsible to God, who has ultimate authority and rule over them and really over everything. 

 Two last thoughts on this:

1.     I actually WANT God to be in charge of everything. Life goes so much better than way! So whomever God puts in charge of me, I want to honor and respect because God put them there and His plan in the best plan.

2.     The earlier I learn to respect and obey those who are in charge, the earlier I learn to respect and obey God. And this is something that even adults struggle with! But, God gave us people on earth to help us learn authority. It’s all in a practice to teach us how to respect and obey God as the ultimate ruler of our lives.

So here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss or just generally review together when it’s over. Oh, and this is important! There’s no wrong answer to these! The point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1.     Give some examples of people who are in charge of you or who have authority over you.

2.     How should you treat those who are in charge?

3.     Why should we respect, honor and obey those who are in charge? Or in other words, why do parents get to be in charge anyway?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice the first half of our verse. Romans 13:1a. You can repeat after me. “All of you - must obey - those who rule over you. There are no authorities - except the ones God has chosen.” 

*Music: Forest by Vlad Gluschenko