Authority

(Camp Shelby, MS Leadership Reaction Course, Wikimedia)

I've attended a number of leadership training sessions while working. Fortunately for me, none of them had this type of physical requirement.  It does remind me of the Outward Bound Challenges.  The leadership and management training courses I’ve taken were in nice comfortable conferences rooms, and I remember quite a bit of their strategy.  I don't remember this line being in any of them:

"In order to empower, a leader has to be willing to give up some of their own power to others."

It was given in a short discussion of leadership, and it gave me a lot of room to think.  Delegating responsibility is fairly easy for supervisors, but delegating sufficient authority to complete responsibilities appears to be more difficult for a great many.  There were times I greatly desired both the responsibility (which I had) and the authority (which I did not.)  In a couple of instances, my supervisors had the leadership quality of giving some of their own power to those working for them.

Jesus was good at delegating authority, and providing the ability:

Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. (Luke 9:1 KJV)

In Matthew 21:23-28, Mark 11:28-33 and Luke 20:2-8, Jesus declined to answer regarding the source of His authority and continued into a parable.  In John, He gave the source of His authority:

For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. (John 5:26-27 KJV)

Paul started out after Christians will complete authority.  Even Ananias was aware of that:

And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. (Acts 9:14 KJV)

Paul tells that story again in Acts 26:9-11, but tells it as a man who has given all authority in his life to his savior. 

Having the faith to give up our own authority in exchange for His is the greatest step a Christian can take.  Not greater than our salvation, but growing as a servant to our King does require that we accept His leadership, not knowing where it will take us.

Last Sunday night I heard a missionary who had done just that, and so has his family.  Duane Cleghorn and his family are headed for Borneo, under the authority of our Lord.  He will be telling them of Jesus, just as he does now from a pulpit, and as I do know from a computer screen.  We do this with authority.

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. (Titus 2:13-15 KJV)