Authority. We want it, right? It’s at the very fabric of our DNA. We want to have authority over something, someone. We strive for the respect that is derived from being in an authoritative role. Part of the great chase that exists in culture today centers on our drive to reach a level of accomplishment that brings about respect, wealth and authority.

Think about it. If you were going to see a physician about a condition that had been hampering you for weeks, you’d look for a leading authority on the condition to improve your chances of being healed.

In the military, officers rise up to an authoritative level in order to lead their men. Imagine a military where there is no commander, no figure appointed to head things up with authority. It would look like the Iraqi Elite Forces during the Gulf War.

Let’s bring this closer to home. Are you a parent? Parents immediately inherit a level of authority as they raise their children. They spend years teaching their child to respect authority, to listen to it, to obey it (many times to a fault). But how many relationships have had at least one heated discussion centered on one parent contradicting the other, thereby eroding the authoritative role that had been worked on and developed for days, weeks, months or even years?

Now, go to work. You’re boss sends you to a meeting to represent your area, division or operations group. The meeting is full of tension, with ownership and action items floating back and forth between groups. You leave the meeting feeling that you gained a tremendous amount of respect and forthcoming kudos for how you stood firm and took what was beneficial while pushing away things that your team didn’t want to own.

Crash! You find out the next day that your manager undid all that you fought for. You’re called into the office and told that you didn’t have the authority to make those decisions and that you were out of line. You walk out of the office feeling that you just have to do as you’re told because you don’t have the authority, or the trust or the tools to represent your team.

Uh-oh. Is that how you feel when you try to talk about Jesus?

The “Great Commission” is found in Matthew. In the scriptures we usually read (Matthew 28:19-20), Jesus tells his disciples to “…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” It’s the whole Go On Out There and Tell People About Me bit that you’ve been quoted too many times to remember.

I think that is awesome. Unfortunately, I don’t think we pay enough attention to the verse that precedes it. Matthew 28:18 reads: “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

Why do I think that verse is so important? Because in it, Jesus gives the disciples the authority to go out there and talk to people. To talk to them. To pray with them. To counsel them. To cry with them. To love them. To not doubt what they can do.

Jesus gave them authority, straight from God himself, to love people.

So where did we miss that part? We like to talk about going out and making disciples. But many times when we get the chance, when the moment is right, we shy away. We walk away. “I’m not the one for that job,” is often the line that we use. Or “I don’t know how to handle that one.” Or “That is a big problem and I am so inexperienced.”

But what I love about it is that verse 18 is telling us (and telling the disciples at the time who were full of doubt) that we have the authority to do it because God gave it to us. It’s not coming in our own power or approach. It is divine. It is God-inspired. It is truth. And we have to be able to trust and know that with the authority comes the blessing of the words that spill forth from our mouth.

We can’t mess it up. No matter what we do, God is behind it and his backing is there. He’s not the boss who won’t have your back. He’s not the parent that changes the pre-established rules of the family. He is not a double-crosser. If Jesus Christ Himself tells you that He is giving you the authority to represent Him in loving on and changing people’s lives, then I encourage you to let that soak in.

You cannot fail when you’re granted the full authority of Christ. Did you read that? Do you believe that? Just go for it, God will do the rest.

So no matter your past, your experiences, your failures, your fear, your pre-conceived notions about Jesus. No matter your human weakness, your human condition, your human vision for the future or your finite human view – what you say and do for Jesus is powerful, redeeming and will work for good.

He promised it. So before you go to the nations. Before you go to school. Before you go to work. Before you go to get coffee. Before you go to your kid’s practice. Before, before, before.

Know that he has gone before you. The words that come out of your mouth are blessed. The words that come from your lips are anointed. The message that you share from your heart cannot fail because God has authorized them.