So…You think Jesus is king?

With all this election posting on social media, one thing has caught my attention. A lot of people keep posting that Christ is King. If that is so, and I would agree with them, then the question I have is this. Do we realize what making Christ King means for our lives?

The first thing is that is Jesus is king, then he is king over all, whether they have accepted him or not. This also means he is king over all our politics, business deals, education, and every other part of our lives. To have a king is different than a president or governor. A king has total authority to determine how we shall live. We have a choice to either submit in total to the kings will or live in adversity to him and risk the wrath of the judgment of the king. There is also the third party that gives lip service to the king but ignores his statutes. This is where I argue much of the church is today. We have sought peace from earthly kings and now believe we have elected one. So what now? Now we need to do what we should do regardless who sits in government. We need to cry out to the Lord, “We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, that we may serve you.” (1 Sam. 12:10) “And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a king over you. ¹⁴If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well. ¹⁵But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king.” (1 Sam. 12:13-15)

We have chosen our earthly king, but he must submit to the authority of God for things to go well with us. But all the cards are not in his lap. It is us who should study to show ourselves approved. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians that to be entrusted with the gospel means we must speak not to please man, but to please God. If we have been transformed by the gospel ourselves, then we live by God’s standards and we need to stop trying to change them to match our standards. We must seek out the standards of God and seek to live as salt and light, different from the world and quit assimilating into it. We must seek the standards of God because they will show us the error of our ways and cause us to repent. Repentance is a beautiful thing. It brings us to God and when he pours his mercy and grace on us we have true peace. In God’s kingdom there is freedom, true freedom, the kind that comes from serving a good king. One who does not lay heavy burdens on His people. But this king calls us to go into the world with truth, not with feel goodness but with truth that can sometimes be hard. But it has to begin with each of us individually. We must apply the truth of God to our own lives. Then apply it to our families and finally our churches. That is when we will see the freedom and peace, for ourselves and for our children.

So if you believe God is truly on the throne, then seek the king’s orders. He is a king who loves, a king who died for you, so give your life to serve him in how He commands.