Daily devotion – The swinging pendulum of what we call respect.
A Loss of Respect for Authority
Can you remember when fathers, mothers, police officers, school teachers, the elderly in our community, and ministers of religion were all given respect?
Respect — an attitude of esteem, the state of being honoured (Collins Dictionary).
Sociologist Richard Sennett of New York University observes that in generations past, people’s greatest anxiety was the loss of governing authority. Today, however, that has completely changed. Modern society fears authority itself as a threat to personal liberty. Sennett writes,
“We have come to fear the influence of authority as a threat to our liberties, in the family and in society at large.”
He continues,
“If previous generations feared the absence of authority, today we see a fear of authority when it exists.”
This helps explain why people today show little respect for the authoritative Word of God.
The so-called enlightened culture we live in attacks authority in every form and instead champions an unhealthy personal autonomy under the banner of human rights and freedom.
In other words, people are saying, “We will have no king to rule over us!”
They will have no parent to discipline them, no teacher to instruct them — and sadly, no truth to bind them.
The Christian Church has become the last bastion of true authority. Yet even the preaching of God’s Word is now under attack, increasingly labelled as “hate speech.”
Preaching is being watered down, turning into little more than a dialogue between the pulpit and the pew — a clear sign that the world has invaded the pulpits of the Church.
Many of us remember with great fondness the powerful preaching of Billy Graham, who would often declare, “The Bible says…”
The word “suggest” never appears in Scripture, but “command” appears 104 times, and “commandment” 177 times!
We find ourselves living once again in the days described in Judges 17:6:
“In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”
During the time of Ezra, when he gathered the people of Israel to read the Word of God, the people stood in reverence as it was read aloud — an act of deep respect for the authority of God’s Word:
Ezra 9:4 – “Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.”
Ezra 10:1 – “Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.”
Ezra 10:12 – “Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, ‘As thou hast said, so must we do.’”
This Sunday, as we gather as the body of Christ here in Secret Harbour, may we come with hearts full of awe and reverence for the teaching of God’s Word — ready to obey it and live it with all our hearts.