The Boss

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(When Nate was four years old)

On the way home from church, my 4-year-old grandson asked, \”Grandma, when we get home today, can I help daddy mow?\” (Daddy is his granddaddy, my husband).

\”No,\” I told him, \”we don\’t mow on Sundays.\”

\”Why not?\” he asked.

\”Sunday is our day of rest. God doesn\’t want us to mow grass today.\”

\”Why do we have to do what God says?\” he wondered.

\”Because God is the boss,\” I told him.

Huffily, he replied, \”God is not the boss!\”

I questioned him. \”Then who is God?\”

\”God is GOD.\”

\”And then who is the boss?\”

\”I am the boss,\” he told me matter-of-factly.

After I finished laughing at that, I made sure he understood that God is God, and He is also the boss. The problem is that as a first-born child, this grandson of mine really does think he\’s the boss!

It may be funny coming from the mouth of a little child, but it can quickly lose its humor when we take ourselves too seriously and become our own bosses. I wonder how many of us live our lives like that. “God is God,” we say, “but I am the boss. I\’ll figure this out for myself, I\’ll take care of this problem without any help; and if I get into a really big mess, then I\’ll ask God for help.”

The first man, Adam, gave over authority to Eve and forgot–or ignored–the words of the Boss. And consider Abraham, who let Sarah become his boss, instead of waiting for his promised child, as he\’d been instructed by the Boss. Then there’s David, who let lust become his boss and made a huge mess of his life. There’s even one fellow in the Scriptures who had to be reminded who was the boss by an ass! The Bible is full of folks who took unauthorized authority over their lives, so at least we\’re in good company, right?

In the book of Isaiah, God said it over and over, “I am God, there is none other. Listen to Me.”

Wonder how many times He’ll have to say it to me before I finally get the message?

(c) 2005