A King? Who needs a King?

This week, I was listening to Toby Mac "I was made to love" and I had this awesome visual during the song of me standing before a huge cross just pouring my whole self out in worship. Then I listened to "City on it's knees" and I was visualizing every person in NYC falling on their knees in honor and worship of God.

I realized that, although I find that image to be so awesome, some would find it to be disturbing. Just the thought of everyone bowing down in surrender would completely rub against the grain for most Americans. I feel that, as a culture, as a country, we do not like the idea of having a King. A Ruler. Shoot, that's the very reason our democracy exists. We didn't like the idea of being under a "Kingship". And, in our very fiber, we feel the need to have freedom, independence, power. Of course, that's great. We do have freedom and it's a wonderful blessing.

But, it struck me recently how much I personally resist the idea of having a King that I bow down to, worship, submit to, trust and obey. That goes against all that I've been taught! We learn to set goals, work hard to achieve goals, take responsibility for ourselves, don't let anyone get in our way, etc. All of these being wonderful idea. But, the idea of being submissive? The idea of trusting and obeying a "Lord"? A "Master"? That does NOT sit well. That has such a negative connotation.

I guess that's why we have developed out own version of Christianity. We've sorta squeezed it into our independent, self sufficient, consumer-driven lives as a "bonus". We can still have our independence, power, dreams, goals, achievements, personal comforts and self-focus. But, we can even have icing on the cake! We can invite God in to join us and bless us additionally! What? Where did this idea come from? Not from the bible.

The awesome Jesus I know from scripture invites us, with pure LOVE, into a relationship where He is Lord. We follow. We worship. We submit. We consider HIM greater than ourselves. He leads in His perfect knowledge, perfect love, perfect power, and perfect dominion. We can live in the fallen, sinful world, worshipping and serving the Kingdom of Jesus, knowing that we have hope because His kingdom is perfect, has no sin, and will reign forever.

BUT...will we submit? Hmmm.....it's HARD to submit, humble myself, worship a King. It takes surrender of my own power. And, more than anything, it takes TRUST. I must trust that this king is worthy and trustworthy. If I'm not sure I can trust him, forget it.

I've been reading through the gospels, and it just amazes me. It's crystal clear. Over and over, Jesus loves people UNCONDITIONALLY. And, he invites people to follow Him. Plain and simple.....FOLLOW him. He never asks if He can be squeezed into their already full lives as an "extra thing". Nope.

And, he doesn't promise worldly comfort. In fact, he pretty much assumes his followers will be leaving that behind. Not only does he NOT promise comfort, He goes further and promises that His followers will be persecuted and will suffer. WHAT?

So, how does he get so many followers? He has thousands of people literally following him around. Is it because they heard he could heal and do miracles? Maybe.

But, I believe it is because He is God. And, God created humans to have a desire to know Him. We crave, deep down in our spirit, to know our creator. And our creator is not only powerful and incredible in his greatness,but, HE IS LOVE. So, when people SAW and HEARD Jesus, they were SEEING AND HEARING LOVE!

That need we all have, way deep down to love and be loved.....Jesus offers it. But, the price is so steep! Not everyone feels they can afford it. What's the price? Everything. All your stuff, your independence, self sufficiency, your loved ones, your plans, your trust, your allegiance...all of it. Hand it over. And, in return, you can know LOVE and the creator of it all.

But, can we hold on to all of our "stuff" and still get to know Jesus? I think we can, a little bit. We can squeeze him in a bit. But, until we are willing to trust, follow, and obey, we don't experience that assurance of absolute LOVE and TRUSTWORTHINESS. He can only demonstrate his love and trustworthiness to the degree that we are willing to let him.

If he isn't our king, he can't demonstrate His power. We can learn about His power, read about it, listen to others talk about it, wonder why we can't experience it ourselves. But, until we SUBMIT to that power, we can't experience it for ourselves.

It's the amazing, loving gift of free will that God gave us. He created us with the ability to pursue Him or the ability to reject Him. He didn't create robots. He created us with the potential to open ourselves to His love. We get to choose. The invitation is always there.

A King? Who needs a King? Who needs a Lord? A Master? Well, I do. And, I have learned to find pure joy in worshipping Him!