Purpose And Power Of Authority by Myles Munroe Read Free Book Online Page A

in life. Therefore, let’s leave behind our prior misconceptions of authority and move past our reactions to the misuse and abuse of authority and instead discover the nature and principles of true authority.
    I like to call authority the “beautiful principle” because it’s not about “lording it over” others. It’s about making smooth paths for people. It’s a means of providing the resources, protection, refreshment, enlightenment, growth, happiness, fulfillment, satisfaction, and contentment we all need.
    In the next chapter, we will explore the nature of true authority, and what this nature is based on.

Chapter Three
The Source of Authority
The Essential Relationship between Author and Authorized
    In the last chapter, we looked at some poor and destructive substitutes for authority. To recognize and understand true authority, we need to explore the source, or origin, of human authority and the inherent purposes of that authority.
The Author
    The “Copyright Owner” of the Earth
    The English word authority comes from a Latin word, auctor. Auctor means “promoter, originator, or author.” What is an author? A simple dictionary definition is “one that originates or creates: source.” An author is the originator or creator of something. In many countries, the copyright of authors of literary or musical works and the patents of inventors are highly valued and protected by law.
    Let me say here that every human being has the right to believe what he wishes to believe, and I respect and would defend his right to do so. In our modern age of so-called enlightenment, many have opted to believe that they are by-products of an evolutionary process and are children of apes. However, it is my firm conviction and belief that human beings have an Author—the Creator of the world—who is the source of our very lives, in addition to our authority. Our Creator, or God, is the originator of the world and everything in it. We call God “God” because He is the natural author of all creation. The word God refers to “the supreme or ultimate reality: as the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshipped as creator and ruler of the universe.” Though many people have tried to infringe on or deny His “copyright” on them, it still remains His and always will. This principle of the Creator’s authority is fundamental and essential to understanding the nature and power of your personal authority.
    The Right of the Source
    God, the self-sufficient One, is the Author, the Originating Cause, the Creator of all things seen and unseen. He is the absolute rightful Sovereign over all He has created. It is God “for whom and through whom everything exists” (Hebrews 2:10).
    The Creator gave everything existence, and He has the power of life itself—the ability to give life and to take it away. From our perspective as human beings, there’s no greater authority than that! Many people are literally looking for a fountain of youth, and, figuratively, they are looking for eternal life. Yet only God can give eternal life. Jesus of Nazareth said, “The Father has life in himself” (John 5:26).
    In the first book written by Moses, the great leader and lawgiver, it says, “In the beginning God created [authored] the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). David, the musician-king of Israel, wrote, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1). Everything that exists on the earth—plants, animals, birds, reptiles, oceans, land, human beings—as well as everything in the vast universe—is owned by God. Nobody has a right to counterfeit what He has “written” in the foundations of the world or to usurp what He has made.
Our Authority Comes from Our Source’s Authority
    An author or creator is always the source of the authority of his work, whether it is a book, an appliance, a car, a house, or an aircraft. For example, I am the author of a number of