Sunday, April 15, 2012

You Will Be Like God


“’You will not surely die, ‘ the serpent said to the woman.  ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”—Genesis 3:4-5.
          
  So begins the Fall from successful living.  “You will be like God.”  We’ve been trying to be like God ever since.  Pride is the exultation of self.  Humility is the exultation of God.  The Kingdom of Man requires man to be king.  The Kingdom of God requires God to be King.  When you determine what is right and what is wrong independent of the Scriptures, you have exalted yourself.  You are god.  And way too often, we bow down and worship.
            We who live in a democracy have a lot to learn about a kingdom.  First it has a king.  He is not elected because we want him to be king.  If we don’t want him to be king, he still is king.  He makes the rules regardless of our opinion on the matter. He does not rule by opinion polls. The best non-democratic example we have is the parent-child relationship.
Because of original sin, we as people are born with ourselves enthroned in our lives.  It doesn’t take long for new parents to realize who the king in the household is.  This little precious tyrant determines when you sleep, when you eat, where you go, how long you stay, etc.  The process of growing up begins as the tyrant is overthrown and submission to loving authority is put into place in that little person’s life. So you also have been born into the Kingdom of God and if you’re going to mature the tyrant; the man-king, must be overthrown.  You must learn not to play in the streets of sin, nor stick your wet, sticky fingers in the light sockets of immorality.
But it goes much deeper than just the external acts of obedience. Your whole inner man must be brought into submission to the King.  You must choose to align yourself internally with the King.   You much choose obedience from the heart.

As you contemplate yielding such incredible amount of authority over to an uncontrollable God, remember Psalms 45:10-11:  “Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear:  Forget your people and your father’s house.  The king is enthralled by your beauty.”  This King loved you enough to die for you when you were in rebellion against His rule.  You can trust Him.

1 comment:

  1. "So you also have been born into the Kingdom of God and if you’re going to mature the tyrant; the man-king, must be overthrown. You must learn not to play in the streets of sin, nor stick your wet, sticky fingers in the light sockets of immorality." LOVED these lines! How true they are! Without submission to the one true God, we ARE tyrants and self-appointed kings. Bummer.

    ReplyDelete