by Dennis and Barbara Rainey

Ephesians 1:22
And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church.

I once found a fascinating quote by A.W. Tozer that went like this:

The present position of Christ in the gospel churches may be likened to that of a king in a limited monarchy. He is lauded, supported. But his real authority is small. Nominally that king is head over all, but in every crisis someone else makes the decisions. On formal occasions he appears in his royal attire to deliver tame, colorless speeches put into his mouth by some real rulers of the country. The whole thing may be no more than good-natured make-believe....

Then he draws the parallel to Christ and the Church. Read carefully:

Among the gospel churches, Christ is now in fact little more than a beloved symbol. All hail the power of Jesus' name is the church's national anthem and the cross is her official flag. But in the week by week services of the church and the day by day conduct of the members, someone else, not Christ, makes the decisions.

I believe Jesus Christ has been robbed of His authority in the homes today. To have authority means to have the right to rule, to take the rightful responsibility, power and ownership of ruling, and to give it to another person who has authority to rule you 100 percent. We haven't rejected Christ; we've just cordially reduced Him and robbed Him of the ownership He deserves within our individual lives.

No, we haven't rejected Christ outright. Instead we have simply modified Him. When God's Word gets too hard, we begin to modify and reinterpret those things as they best fit us.

But He wants much more. In the next two devotions I'll continue discussing Christ's authority.

Prayer:

Honestly go to Jesus Christ in prayer right now. Pray about His authority in your life and home.

Discuss: How do you think your life and marriage would be different if you gave Christ authority in your life?

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