“I have all the responsibility and none of the authority”.
It was a constant whine. So, who gives authority? What makes authority? What comprises valid authority. How does that fit in with responsibility?
Let’s take a look.
Every employee in every corporation feels like they have far more responsibility than authority. The opposite is true. If they took the authority it would exceed their responsibility. They fail to take both sides.
When is authority given? It is given because someone who can make the decision offers a responsibility to someone. If they shirk or hide or dodge the potential responsibility that comes with the new job responsibility they forfeit the authority that goes with it.
You can’t have authority without responsibility. Responsibility isn’t always about being willing to take the blame. It’s about being responsible. It means being responsible to someone who will end up taking the blame by keeping them covered and informed. Chain of command.
I have never known a person in charge who wouldn’t just LOVE to have people who work for him who will take responsibility and authority in submission to the mission the person in charge has. There are many who would love to have the authority. Few who are willing to shoulder the credit or blame for what goes right or wrong.
This is most often expressed badly in Churches. Churches can be an artificial environment in this respect. Committees and boards love the authority but have no implied portfolio for getting actual results under authority with full implied responsibility. They end up being sideline snipers.
Some pastors struggle with authority. They don’t know how to take it. They want to share it. It becomes a weakness borne from a fear of man.
How did Jesus exert authority? Just like we should. You take it. It’s not given. It comes because you choose to step out, proclaim truth, speak with confidence and integrity. Even the Pharisees were amazed that he could and did speak as a man of authority. The Centurion who came to Jesus understood authority. It comes not because someone else gives it to you , but because you take it. The Centurion said, I am a man like you who is under authority. Who placed him there. HE DID. His authority came from his being under authority. This is the lost truth.
I have a good Pastor friend who humbly says about meetings he attends, “Wherever I sit at the table becomes the head of the table.” How does that happen? Not because of degrees, not because of ordinations, not because of Church politics, not from belonging to some group that tells the world you have authority. It comes because like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day the world recognizes and quickly is ready to acknowledge true authority.
I have another Minister friend who loves titles, loves the long black robes, loves the collar, loves the accolades of being an apostle, bishop, whatever. He is the least person of authority I know. He will bask in the tiny light he has shown on himself.
I have one more minister friend who I love very much that if he would just take the authority he has been given, along with the blame and responsibility that comes with it, his ministry would become all God planned it to be. His timidity causes him to stay in the ranks, in the shadows well below the potential in God he was anointed with.
So, what does all this have to do with the price of OIL? I have always been a person who pushes too hard, takes too much on, and nearly always ends up in charge. My wife is the same way. There has never been a group she gets involved in where she doesn’t become the head person of. How does that happen? How do some people rise quickly and others don’t. It’s all about the balance between authority taken or given. If you want to be the head goose you have to face the most headwind and you are responsible for not leading the flock astray. And you must quickly find other geese to lead when you get tired. Goose leading is no one man show but you must remain in authority even when you aren’t at the head of the V.
This isn’t at all about being a good politician. I’m the worst at company politics than anyone on the planet. I am an equal opportunity offender. I don’t play well with others. The only difference between most others and me is I’m willing to tackle tough things others shirk. I’m willing to take the blows. I’m without fear. I tick many, yea most people off. But I’m results oriented, not methods oriented. Pleasing methods seldom lead to pleasing results, Pleasing results come from unpleasing methods many times. By the time people are still just talking about things, I’ve finished the job. I do the things other people don’t like to do. That’s where authority comes from.
That may be why I so much appreciate our great President Bush. He does what he knows to be right even if everyone hates it and hates him. They make fun, they pick, they snipe and he just gets results.
We need more men like him. He takes authority and accepts the responsibility. That’s more than any president in the last 20 years including his dad. God Bless Him.
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