Hebrews 13:17  Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.

Hebrews 13:17  Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.

                Do you ever feel that your ideas are better than your principal’s decisions?  Do you ever feel that you could run the school better than he/she does?  Do you ever find yourself speaking against your leaders to other coworkers and disagreeing with their leadership?  Do you ever do a procedure different from your instructions because you feel your way is better or it doesn’t really matter?  If so, the above scripture is addressed to you.                            

                Giving up our own will to follow a leader’s directives is a difficult but necessary lesson.  Submission is God’s way.  Obedience is God’s way.  If God sets leaders in place, (Romans 13:1), then He gave you that leader to follow.  When you follow that leader, you are following Christ.  God exalts good followers who become good leaders.  Leaders who have never followed are overbearing and thoughtless of their workers.  Learn to obey, even unkind “masters,” and you will build Godly character that will exalt you in position later.  Remember, God orders your steps; therefore, you are assigned the task of learning to follow this leader!

                When do you obey, and when do you refuse to obey? You obey until a higher authority gives different instructions.  In other words, if it is not against God’s law, if it is not against the laws of the land, and if it is not against company policy, then you are to obey.  An employer pays your salary.  That gives them the privilege to decide how you spend your time on the job.  They pay you to do what they ask you to do.  It is your job to give them what they want (within the above laws).  You can offer a creative idea as an alternative, but if they don’t accept your idea, don’t get mad.  Leading the school is their job.  They will carry the ultimate responsibility for success or failure.  Simply obey. Obey gladly unto the Lord knowing that you are pleasing God by obeying your leaders.                              

Dear God, I want to learn obedience.  Doing my job differently than I think it should be done is a difficult thing for me.  Sometimes I get concerned that things are not “fair.”  Help me to give up my “rights” and take on obedience.  I want to please you.  Make me a servant like your son, Jesus Christ.