Do You Let the King in Your Home?
Do You Let the King in Your Home?
The cobbler’s son has no shoes! The doctor’s daughter is dying from an infection! We certainly find these statements ludicrous. When we have the tools necessary to provide for our own family, common sense and common decency mandates that we use those tools. We go to great lengths to ensure that there is food on the table, warm clothes in inclement weather, and the list goes on. We should provide for our own (1 Timothy 5:8).
God has given us all of the resources that we need to provide a home environment that reflects His kingdom. We should be regularly asking ourselves if we are allowing Jesus, our King, to be ruling within our home. It is good to spread the message abroad that Jesus is our Savior. It is good to corporately worship and declare that Jesus is our King. If we leave Jesus at the doorstep of our own home; however, our vehement testimony to the world and our enthusiastic worship in the church will have lost its vitality.
Friends, too often we are settling for a natural replica of a supernatural substance. We have learned how to do Christianity. We have learned how to give the gospel. We have learned how to worship. If we are not careful, we will live a great deal of our lives pleased with our own efforts to fulfill what seem to be Christian ideals. God offers so much more! He offers Himself! Yes, yes, we all know that Jesus gave Himself as a substitute for His people, but that is not the end of it, is it?
God’s word is continually reminding us that our rescue, our solace, our all is Christ (Psalm 27:1; 31:1-5; Colossians 3:11). As those who, by God’s grace, have called upon the name of the Lord and who have named the name of Christ, we need Jesus to redeem every part of our lives. Remember, God has already accomplished what was necessary to redeem us. Colossians 3:3 states, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” I am afraid we spend too much time with Christ hidden in us rather than us being hidden in Him.
What does it look like when Jesus is ruling as King in our lives? How will I know if I am truly allowing King Jesus to rule in me? Colossians 3:12-14 states, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” In our natural state, there is absolutely no way to exhibit these character traits. These are supernatural works of a gracious God. They are no less supernatural than Jesus healing a man born blind, yet we sometimes approach these types of fruit with a casual expectation that these traits will display themselves due to our numerous years of having been saved.
In Colossians 3, Paul instructs the believers, who have already “put on the new self” (v. 10), to put on this fruitfulness. We will never make these manifestations of our Savior better. These manifestations do not belong to us, but to Him. We will either put them on or we will try through our own fleshly efforts to mirror them. The former results in a true manifestation of our King, the latter portrays something entirely different. With the grace afforded to us through our King, we can live truly supernatural lives. The supernatural life will be umpired by the “peace of Christ” (v. 15), will declare thanksgiving (v. 15), will abound with the “word of Christ” (v. 16), and will overflow in grace-filled ministry in all aspects of life (vv. 16-17).
Paul proceeds to provide relationship roles in which this supernatural life must manifest itself. Better stated, he describes how Christ must be King in all of these relationships (Colossians 3:18-4:1). Wives, if you want to obey the demands of this passage, it will not result from your will power, dedication, or learning; instead, it will result from surrender to King Jesus. Husbands, if you want to love your wife as Christ loves the church, you will need supernatural resources. Praise be to a great God, you have what you need! Children, if you do not want to be frustrated in your attempts to obey your parents, submit to King Jesus! He will enable you to obey flawlessly as He Himself obeyed. Fathers, we have a daunting task. Of our own resources, we will be inconsistent and overbearing at times. You want to nurture your children rather than provoke their wrath? Submit to King Jesus. You have what you need!
Why do we struggle so much? These concepts seem so easy. It is as if we are being offered a foolproof way of living the Christian life. The fact is, we get in the way. We think we know enough. We, rather than walking carefully (Ephesians 5:15), charge ahead with our vast wisdom and experience. Perhaps, we need to slow down a bit. Perhaps, instead of a swift and efficient answer to our spouse, child, or parent, we should pause and learn what it means to “put off the old man” (Ephesians 4:22) and to “put on the new man” (Ephesians 4:24). God told us that our flesh would make war against the Spirit (Galatians 5:17), and we had better believe Him. I remind myself, sometimes too late, not to do what comes naturally. Jim Binney, in The Ministry of Marriage, wrote: “What comes natural is not supernatural.”
What hope is there? All you need. In the flesh, we operate in our own failing resources, but in the Spirit, we operate in God’s inexhaustible power! Meditate on these few passages concerning the source of our spiritual progress.
- Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
- Philippians 2:13 “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”
Do you allow King Jesus into your home?
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