(WARNING: you will be disappointed if you think this blog has anything to do with partisan politics)
I have been texting, tweeting, and chatting with someone named SubconsciousGathering online at Need Him for the past few days about all matters of spirituality. He claimed to be a believer who became enlightened and left the church to embrace atheism. Everything he challenged me on I had heard before: “no evidence that can stand scrutiny of the scientific method except the writings of goat herders from the bronze age.” But one topic he kept coming back to that fascinated me. He asked me several times, “what did I do that got this god so angry and why should I care?” Interesting question.
I was reminded of a sermon that a friend of mine, Bruce White, delivered many years ago. He claimed that one of the issues specifically in America keeping us from fully understanding our own depravity and God’s wrath is that we have never lived under the reign of a king. Excellent point. Consider it.
The few times our land has been under foreign rule what did we do? Revolt! It’s in our genetic code as a nation. To resist rule! Live free or Die! I was watching Fox News last night (fair and balanced) and wondering how long it would be on the air in Great Britain if they talked about Queen Elizabeth like that…or in the Russian Federation about Medvedev…or North Korea about Kim Jong Un.
Don’t misunderstand my point. I am blessed to live in such great a nation as ours and I cherish our freedom. But I wonder if that freedom that we have as a “nation under God” has skewed our understanding of God and what it means to live under the rule of a King.
Consider how Christianity is exploding in China under the rule of Jintao, and in the Sudan under al Bashir. And in Algeria, Congo, and Angola under the rule of dictators. Why these nations?
Is it possible that the people in these countries better understand verses like Psalm 33:8-9, and Colossians 1:16-17. Do they better understand submitting to a ruler and relying on them for their very existence?
Is it possible that they better understand verses like John 3:36 and Romans 1:18 and the weight of consequences for not following the rule of King?
Is it possible that they better understand verses like Galatians 5:1 and what it means to be free.
And how much more do they understand and long for verses like 1 John 4:9-11 to have a King that loves and does not condemn. A King that has a plan to heal and reconcile their land.
So SubconsciousGathering, you have never understood living under a king. Perhaps our nation has forgotten. Perhaps in forgetting we have forgotten. And while I have never lived under the rule of an earthly king, by God’s grace I have lived and received mercy under the rule of a heavenly King. By His grace He has given me desire for Him, understanding of Him, and forgiveness of my transgressions through His son. I can only pray that He reveals the same to you.
In Jesus name, yes and Amen.
Selah.
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