What Happens When We Reject the Authority of the Father?

We have become like those of old, over whom You never ruled, those who were never called by Your name. (Isaiah 63:19)

Today’s big question: what happens when we reject the Father’s authority?

Every Christian finds their identity in God. Our earthly existence is but a temporary time to serve the Father until the day we are in His glorious presence forever. He must be the priority of our desires, our relationships, and our entire life.

Christ paid the price for us so that we might be redeemed for the Father, and thus the Father’s glory is perfectly revealed in the Son. The Christian life is all about recognizing that true glory and living in it. Because of Christ we have abundant life now (John 10:10) and a glorious life yet to come. Our mission is to live in and for God’s glory, and it can only happen through Christ.

Consider what happens to those who claim to be God’s children and yet reject His glory to pursue their own. The Israelites had done this, which is why Isaiah was in such deep prayer for them. They had rejected their identity with their true Father to live under a false perception of identity with the patriarchs. They had even rejected the very God whom the patriarchs worshipped, and instead had given glory to idols. But God will not give His glory to another (Isaiah 42:8).

A rejection of our identity as the Father’s children leaves us with only one possible identity: we become children of the world. As Isaiah prayed, he recognized this in Israel. They had become like those who were never called by God’s name and like those whom God never ruled.

Whenever we take man’s word over God’s Word it is like we denounce God as our Father. The same happens whenever we desire anything in this world over God, including the closest of human relationships. God gave Israel over to their idolatrous passions, and many in the church today are in similar circumstances. The Son paid much too high a price and the Father’s glory is much too great to be taken for granted or for us to long for the things of this world.

Every child of God needs to ask themselves this very important question: are my desires and passions an indication of my identity as a child of God? When we reject the Father’s authority, we become like the world.

Today’s big idea: a rejection of the Father’s authority is an elevation of our own.

What to pray: ask God to transform your heart to desire identity only in Him.