Far from being a curse, authority, if it is good authority, is a gift from God’s open hand.

Mark Dever & Jonathan Leeman helpfully explain what good authority looks like:

Good authority authors life. It creates and empowers and uplifts. Yes, authority places boundaries on the road and writes rules for the game, but it does that so the game can be played and the destination reached.

Good authority is the coach who trains the runner to run faster, the teacher who teaches the student to build better. Again, authority authors life. Isn’t this precisely what God did with his authority by creating the world? And isn’t this what he meant for everyone created in his image to do by giving dominion to humanity? God’s authority is nothing if not generous. And so should ours be.

Taken from Baptist Foundations: Church Government for an Anti-Institutional Age (Kindle Locations 255-256). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Oh that our churches would be filled with such authority so it may produce Christians who practice such authority in whatever lot God has placed them!

Thank you, Father, for good authority.