Clothed and in his right mind Mark 5

They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had the “legion”; and they became frightened. Mark 5:15

This is a fascinating passage of scripture for so many reasons. Here is a naked man, insane from demon-possession, strong and fierce, and self-destructive (this is the only passage where cutting is used that I know of). Jesus comes, heals him, and when the people hear of it, they come to find the man totally transformed. It mentions 3 changes, though I am sure they were many more. He is sitting down. He is at rest. His life had been one of wandering in caves and running around the tombs. Nice life. Not. But the healing touch of Jesus calmed his wandering, troubled heart. He could sit. He could learn. He could enjoy life for the first time in who knows how long.

Then it says he was clothed. Someone, out of the goodness of their heart, or just out of plain fear, donated clothing to the poor naked soul who no longer wanted to be that way. His shame was covered. He was warmed. He was able to go among people without scorn or rejection. Clothing represented something...we do not accept people without it (unless you are a lecherous person) in public places. He was free to do as Jesus would next instruct him because he was clothed- to return home and tell people all the good God had done for him. The Bible talks about the shame of nakedness. The only place for it is in the home with one's spouse. Even Noah's son was ashamed when they walked into his tent when he was passed out drunk and naked. Two were blessed for not looking on him, but covering him walking backwards to do it, and Ham was condemned for looking and then tattling. Nakedness is a sign either of lewdness or extreme poverty. In this case, it was both. The man was now accepting clothing, not shredding them off his body like the Hulk. He was willing and able to cover himself. Try keeping clothes on a 2 year old some days. You have to accept wearing them, be trained what is acceptable, and actually stayed covered. This was a major deal for this guy.

And he was in his right mind. Without the demons, the voices in his head telling him to do what he should have never done, to live like he would never otherwise choose to live, he could think straight. He could accept Jesus who saved him from his awful fate, could reason his good fortune, could be grateful instead of destructive, and could tell others of what Jesus had done for him.

And it scared the bejeezus out of the townspeople! They saw floating pigs (which shouldn't have been in any part of Israel anyway, you understand) and a tamed mad-man, and they made Jesus leave town! They begged him to go away! Really??? Why not bring other suffering people to be healed? Why not have him drive out the demons in their own lives? Just why is it that when Jesus comes into our presence we send him away instead of bowing the knee, or at least taking advantage of His presence and abilities? Today the Oswald Chambers piece on Facebook answered that question for me...when we are truly in the presence of God, we see our sin...not just generic sin, but specific sin. We see ourselves as unworthy, filthy, and unacceptable. And we don't like it. We don't want to be bothered with guilt and shame and uncomfortable feelings about ourselves. We figure if we are better than the next guy that we are just fine, thank you. But our spirit senses something different about this man Jesus. He's no ordinary guy, prophet, or rabbi. He is different in an uncomfortable way. Even when most of his disciples left Him and He asked if the rest were going to go away, too, they answered only that they had nowhere else to go. They knew His words were life, even if they didn't understand them. This difference is huge. And He healed the man not because he asked to be healed, because he didn't. He healed him out of compassion. The man didn't choose to be healed. He was healed in spite of himself, and he was grateful. And instead of wanting to be a part of this marvelous transformation, those around him said NO THANKS. When given the option to be transformed in every good way, they rejected it. They rejected the one who could give them a life worth living.

It is no different today. I work with people and interact with people who cringe at the mention of the word GOD, let alone Jesus. They know that it means something has to change. They are not comfortable in the presence of the words, let alone the people and spirit they represent. So we pray. We pray for Jesus to heal out of compassion for they would be the people who send Jesus away otherwise. How silly we humans are! And how sad! I would take sitting, clothed, and sane over restless, naked, and constantly worried, angry, and destructive any day. Would you? Jesus is the only cure for the common human condition. Let Him stay when He visits your town. You won't regret it.

Cords of Falsehood

Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood, and sin as if with cart ropes...Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight! Isaiah 5:18, 20-21

Cords...I have been working with them since I took a class on Monday. We were learning to make rugs from strips of fabric. Learned a great technique for tearing fabric strips that I will share with you. Nip the fabric on the cut edge every ___ inches. For me, it was 2” apart. Tear these down to about 6” so you can get a hold of them with your hands. You take 1,3,5...and your friend takes 2,4,6...and then play tug of war! They tear soooo easily, and you can do 6 or 8 at a time with little effort and time! We then used the strips with a needle to work a rug.

It is hard to take a perfectly good piece of fabric and just rip it to shreds! But at that point, you are committed! You have these long, rough-edged pieces that seem worthless, but all that cutting, pulling, and straining will be used for good. God can do that in our lives. Laying that piece of fabric on the floor and walking over it provides a hazard – you will slip and slide and get tangled up in what seems to be a thing of beauty, but when our lives are seemingly torn apart, destroyed from life's abuse, God takes 2 of those strings and begins to weave them together – under 2, form a loop, come back through, pull back- repeat- and it produces a piece that NO ONE will be able to unravel and is useful to all who approach it. Strength comes from being torn. Endurance comes from taking those parts and letting God reassemble them into something that will wear like iron instead of laying their uselessly on the floor. That same piece of cotton fabric becomes something that it would not have been without the tearing.

But these cords in Isaiah are cords holding on to sin...we don't let it go, but drag it with us wherever we go. “Let It Go!” is THE number one song people seem to be singing these days...from the Disney movie Frozen. I personally haven't seen the movie or heard the song all the way through, but I can guess...we tell ourselves to let it go all the time when we are weighed down by the thoughts and opinions of others. That seems to be a Disney theme...do your own thing regardless of what others think. There is some truth to that, but the dangerous real truth is that they have no standard for that...they encourage children to throw off all adult restraints put on them, even loving, wise counsel. Take a risk...do the wrong thing and it will all work out in the end. EEEEKKKKKK! What Isaiah is telling us to let go of here is the sin that so easily entangles (Hebrews 12). Instead of looking at our sin as a burdensome weight, we drag it along behind us. The pioneers had their covered wagons, and sometimes another cart was roped to it. Imagine the poor horse if he had to pull the wagon of stuff they did need, and then a cart full of rocks that served no good purpose. All it did was exhaust him. They would remember, maybe where they got the rocks and would keep adding them as they went along, but they just slowed them down even more. Get to a river, and the rocks would make the passage to the other side impossible. They would drown in their sorrows. The wheels would sink in the river bed. The sin would not be forsaken and they would pay dearly. This verses the ship at see tossed about. They would throw even precious cargo overboard to lighten the ship and keep it afloat. That seemingly valuable stuff became deadly when the test came, and a wise sailor knew it had to go or they would die. That is how sin is! It seems valuable at the time. Precious even! That money we can make being dishonest, the things we can have if we sneek them, the relationships we can have if we violate our bodies to secure them...all of these become sinking weights when it comes to our relationship with God. See how this is played out in the next verses in Isaiah...we call good evil and evil good. We think that affair is going to make us happier than our marriage, we think cheating on our taxes is smart, and we think that “lifestyle choices” are harmless and should be protected instead of discouraged and banned. Those who hold to scripture and have standards are called evil, while those who accept sin are called good. Lets not hold our lives together with cords of falsehood. Let's not lie to ourselves and others about what is holy and acceptable to God. Let's not substitute sweet for bitter, or the end will be more bitter than you could ever swallow. Let's loose the cords of sin and break free from that weight. The feeling of TRUE FREEDOM will be amazing! You don't realize sometimes how heavy your burdens are until you put them down and then try to pick them up again! Who would want to carry sin around like a ball and chain? Not me...not now that I have put it down at the feet of Jesus. Thank you, Lord!

Dividing lines Luke 23

And they cast lots, dividing up His garmens among themselves. Luke 23:34

Continuing on the theme...here is the passage that fulfills the prophecy of Psalm 22 we studied yesterday. David sees Jesus, torn and battered, forsaken by God, suffering immensely, and the added insult of taking the one thing he had, his clothes, and shooting craps to divide them up. I don't know why they would have wanted them. Were they a keepsake of the biggest day in history? I imagine they were blood-stained themselves if they made it up to the crucifixion site. Who would want bloody clothes even if they were unique and valuable? Blood doesn't really wash out very well unless they had some sort of peroxide that would take it out that I don't know about. Or if they were taken off and taken to the hill with him, was it a reward for the soldiers to get the victims' possessions? I'm not that historically knowledgeable, but there had to be something to be gained from owning them.

But the clothes were not the only thing being divided that day. For there were other divisions. The disciples and Jesus' mother and other women stood weeping while the rulers mocked him. His followers were sharply divided from His condemners. Then there were the soldiers, who also became divided...they started by mocking, but after the earthquake, one declared that He was a righteous man and knew this was wrong. It said the people looked on. Some were convinced that He deserved this for declaring Himself God, and other convinced that He was the Messiah and that this made no sense.

And then there were the criminals. They were divided, one on his right and one on his left. Matthew 27:44 says they were both insulting Him, saying He should save Himself. But Luke gives a different story. Is this a contradiction in scripture? No, I don't think so...because all of scripture is true. So let's work this out...

Jesus was on the cross for 3 hours. Many things happened over this time. Jesus forgave verbally. He talked to God out loud, crying out using Old Testament scripture. He took care of His mother. They had posted a sign above Him charging Him with being the Kings of the Jews. And in this time I do believe that the heart of one robber, as the Matthew text called him, melted. Even in the unrighteous death of Christ, He was not unrighteous. Even though blameless, He did not blame. He took this whole thing with an air about Him that showed that this was a mission, not a mistake. And the robber saw and realized that Jesus had done nothing to deserve the death that He was dying. And I never noticed before that he asked Jesus to remember him when He comes into His kingdom. What was Jesus charged with? Being the King of the Jews. We don't know if this robber was a Jew or not, but he realized that Jesus was THE KING, and that His kingdom was not of this world. That was the sort of kingdom, that of righteousness, sacrifice, love, caring, peace, and purpose, that he wanted to be a part of. He was begging not to suffer eternally for his sins. He realized that the earthly suffering he had brought on himself, and his eternal condition was not looking a whole lot better. But Jesus...He could and would do something about it, and when Jesus said he would be with Him that very day in paradise, well, that poor man could die in peace. Jesus divided the criminals. One looked only at the external, mortal, and selfish condition and scorned the one who would take his sin, and the other knew his pitiful state, his need to be saved from more than a mortal death, and looked to the one He knew had the power and authority to let him into the kingdom. Jesus divides people today into those same camps. There are the scorners and there are the followers, the accusers and the confessors, those who blame everything on someone else, and those who take responsibility for their errors and ask for forgiveness and new life.

So which side of the cross are you on? Or is your own heart divided? Are you not sure what to think of the cross, the men on it, or the reason He would suffer for you? Pick up a Bible. Read the New Testament first...you don't have to read it in order. Start with John, then Luke, then Matthew or Mark. Then move to Acts, read a few of the smaller letters, and then Corinthians. Save Revelation til you understand who this Jesus is...and then take on the first few chapters to see that He deals with the church before He deals with the rest of the sinful world, and then recreates everything so that sin will no longer have an effect on the universe.

Jesus calls you, He sets the example for you, and He tells you who He is, how much He loves you, and how that love is played out in a person's life when the Spirit comes and takes residence in your life. Don't skip any of it, or just turn to a preacher or church to figure these things out. Spend time with the One who calls you. We are called the Bride of Christ, which implies an intimate relationship, not just a king and His subjects. We are brides, brothers, priests, friends, and children, and all that those titles imply. Draw near, marvel like the thief did, and come to the same point he did. You won't regret it.

Divided we fall Psalm 22

They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. Psalm 22:18

If you say, “You covered this verse before!,” you are right. It is quoted in the New Testament among the verses of the crucifixion. But Psalm 22 gives us the back story, more insight into the thoughts and feelings of Jesus while on the cross. The dividing of the garments was the fulfillment of this passage of scripture, one more proof that Jesus was the Messiah long foretold. How David saw this...what kind of vision, what kind of experience lead him to write this, we don't know. But he nailed it, literally.

The words of Christ on the cross start this Psalm. From the beginning we are caught up in the agony, despair, and torture of the One crying out. If you can envision Jesus on the cross, whipped into a pulpy mess, crown of thorns tearing at his face, people jeering and taunting while others look on in despair, it is hard not to weep with Him. This whole passage, when read parallel to the gospels points out even to their taunts of if He is the Son of God, why doesn't God bring Him down and save Him. They didn't realize that He was saving THEM, not needing saving Himself.

By verse 15, He is dying, with more accounts to follow of actions taken at His feet, one of which was the dividing of the only things He could call His own, His clothes. He was delivered from the sword, as it was only used on Him after He died. Even though God had turned His face away, God still heard the cries, which were not cries of pain and agony, but cries to forgive those who were torturing Him. Cries to be taken back into God's eternal favor.

And then vs. 25! The eternal celebration of the resurrection! Nothing, dead or alive, will be able to keep from bowing the knee and praising God for the awesome ransom He paid for the sinners who would come to Him, who would seek Him out! The tale of His amazing grace would be told to the dead and the dying, to the living and to those who would come after them, including you and me. The story would never die, the celebration would never end, and the glory of God would be available to those who do not resist His drawing love! No kingdom could ever raise up that would stand before Him, no family, great or small, would be freed from the impulse to worship Him when they eventually see Him as He is, great and mighty and seated at the right hand of the Father for His obedient walk on the earth, going to reclaim them from Satan's deception. Only those who choose to remain deluded will be, and even then EVERY KNEE WILL BOW AND EVERY TONGUE CONFESS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER. NO ONE IN ALL OF THE EARTH WILL ESCAPE THAT CONFESSION! That is the amazing part of what Christ did. Though stripped of everything, clothes included, He will never be stripped of any glory ever again. Those who deny him here will not have the luxury of denying Him forever. So, if you will confess Him as Lord someday, why not now? That confession on the Last Day will be made at the crossroads...some joining Him in His kingdom, and the rest on their way to eternal doom. If you have to do it anyway, you might as well give in now. The seriously amazing thing about giving in to God now is that it leads to blessing! We have been deceived by Satan into thinking that giving in to God, confessing our need for a Savior, and giving our lives to Him is somehow a BAD thing. It is a bad emotion for a period of time, like the crucifixion was a bad emotion and experience for a few horrible hours. Like childbirth. Ouch. But once on the other side of confession, of seeing who you are and who Christ is, the results, like childbirth, are amazing. There is new life! A new, amazing, conscience clearing, God-guided, Jesus as big brother life! It is not something we can conjure up...we can't make ourselves at peace with God. Only He can do that...and if Christ would have died just to save you, isn't it worth it to take the hand of someone who would love you that much. HE IS LORD. Like the president, he is the ruler of the country whether you voted for him or not, whether you agree with him or not. You can't deny who He is. So it is a choice of whether you trust Him or not. Believe He loves you or not. Believe that He died for you or not. You can deny it now, but that does not make Him less than He is.

And He is GOOD. Good to all. He calls us to His side, spanks us at times to get our attention focused back on Him. But He does it BECAUSE He loves us. He wants us. He calls us. He reckons us righteous when we know we are wretched. And we WILL proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord. Do it now so that when the Day comes, you will be doing it again with JOY and not terror. With extreme gratitude and not regret. You won't regret it in this life or the life to come.

Clothed with the slain Isaiah 14:19

But you have been cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch, Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword. Isaiah 14:19

OK, so we know by now that not all references to clothing in scripture is pretty...and this is one of those ugly ones. We are talking about the king of Babylon here, a wicked, ruthless man who let a wicked, ruthless nation. I think the New Living Translation gives us the picture, although it doesn't use the clothing word. “But you will be thrown out of your grave like a worthless branch. Like a corpse trampled underfoot, you will be dumped into a mass grave with those killed in battle.”

Proper burial was very important in ancient days. Seriously. Look at the pyramids, the references to Abraham buying Sarah's burial tomb, and Joseph's body being carried out of Egypt. Where you were buried and how spoke of who you were, how important, and what you believed spiritually. Here is the big shot of the world whose end was kind of like that of a mummy's tomb being raided for the treasures . The mummies themselves aren't worth much, or weren't to tomb-robbers. The mummies were dumped out of their gold sarcaphagi and left as trash. In this case, the king's body would be dumped with the rest of the common soldiers whose defeat came, and all would be tossed into a large hole. His covering would be the bodies of those who fell by the sword. He would be one of the first thrown in, a truly humiliating position for the ruler of the peoples.

We tend to look at God as a giant softie. He is good and merciful and forgiving. Yes, this is true, but that is half of who He is. He is also a raging fire and hater of evil. He doesn't mess around with the wicked. Look at the whole of Isaiah and see the God who pleads, punishes, reaching out and casts out, gives instruction and punishes those who refuse to obey. To those who call evil good and good evil, He shows Himself Righteous and True. There is no middle ground. He never gives up on people for the sake of His name and His promise to Abraham that there would be a remnant forever, and to the world that He would send the ultimate Redeemer, that those who would trust in Him would never suffer the consequences of their sins.

Yes, we all sin. We do. No matter how hard we try not to. No matter whether we want to or not. It is in our nature. It is who we are. We are born in sin...selfish and self-motivated, having our own opinions of what we think is right and wrong, acceptable and not. We, like Satan himself, want to show God who is boss. And that is our problem. We set ourselves up as the king of Babylon. We want to divide and conquer, reign on our thrones. “Wretched man that I am. Who can deliver me from this body of death?” asks the Apostle Paul. Here is the man God called to take the gospel to the Gentile world, and he ponders his own sinful state at the end of Romans 7. And THAT is the question, WHO. We cannot rescue ourselves. But we need to want to be rescued. We have to agree that God is God, and we are not, and shouldn't be. Face it, we all have the “if I ruled the world, things would be better” syndrome. We think if we impose our rules on others that the world would be a utopia. If the God of the universe chose to give us free will to defy Him, then we need to figure out that He is good to give us the chance to realize our sinfulness and look to Him for redemption.

And that He provided in the man Jesus, the God Jesus, the Spirit Jesus. The trinitarian Godhead reaches out, offers itself up as a sacrifice, and fills us with the ability to come to Him and become one of His. We have to agree that we are sinful, that Jesus takes that sin away if we ask in humility, not demand it as our right. There is no room for self-centered salvation. It is a gift from a tender, loving God. But rejecting that will send us to the bottom of the grave, covered with the rest of those who reject the tender mercies of the Lord. Accept or reject. Not do or don't do something to save ourselves. We can't. Not find or not find the answers. The answer is there. It is Jesus. We accept Him or reject Him. We believe that we need to be forgiven, understand that He is the payment, and accept the payment. If you can't pay the mortgage and someone offers to pay it for you, you can accept or reject the payment. You give up more than just the offer if you refuse. You lose it all. The house goes to the bank and you are homeless, all because you are too prideful to let someone else pay the bill, even though you have to way to pay it. Foolish, isn't it. When offered the way out of sin, to reject it is even more foolish. To choose evil over good isn't just foolish, it is willful suicide. Don't be a victim of your own pride. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up out of that mass grave and let you live an eternal life of beauty with Him. Hallelujah!

Clothed in clouds and rainbows Revelation 10

I saw another strong angel coming down out of the heaven, clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pilllars of fire. Rev. 10:1

Wow. Now from the very start I will tell you that I am not a scholar when it comes to the book of Revelation, and I will not try to give you a theological view of this verse. I will be digesting it from the point of view of a true novice and from the “under the sun” view of things.

The trumpets have sounded, vials poured, seals broken...all kinds of chaos are poured out upon the earth. Judgments are being poured out upon the earth, and here comes another angel, dressed in a cloud, shining brightly with a rainbow like a crown or halo. This makes sense. Rainbows come from rain clouds with light shining through them. The rainbow was the symbol immediately after the flood given to Noah and his crew offered their sacrifice upon stepping on the earth again, the sign that God would not destroy the world with water again. It doesn't represent God never judging the world again at all, just not by water.

This time, we are told, it would be by fire.

So this beautiful angel in cloud and rainbow comes and stands on the earth and on the water, but the storm is not over. Think about it. When do you see a rainbow? It is after the storm has passed. He roars and says something, but John is not allowed to tell us what is said. Doesn't that make you curious? What did he reveal to John that God would not want us to know before the time? But he does continue to speak, and this we do hear. He “lifted his right hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, WHO CREATED HEAVEN AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE EARTH AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE SEA AND THE THINGS IN IT,that there will be delay no longer, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets. Rev 10:5-7

That's it, he says. God created all of this and it is over. It's out with the old, and in with the new. The promise of the flood is over, and we are starting over. New heaven, new earth, and no more sea. The only lake will be the lake of fire.

A cloud is made of water, and this is what the angel is dressed in. The water of the air. I read of smoke filling the heavens around the throne, and there is thunder and lightning coming from the throne of God. Rev. 4 gives us this image. Voices of the angels thunder throughout heaven during the breaking of the seals and other actions taken in heaven and earth. Maybe these cease when the rainbow-clad angel comes to earth? The wrath of God will no longer shake heaven? Maybe God is done with that stuff and is moving on to another means of judgment? Like I said, I am no prophetic interpreter, but we are given images we can understand to some extent, and this would make sense to me. But then I read on and in chapter 17 there is more thunder and lightning...more smoke of the glory of God, so what do I know. I know that God has a symbol of rainbow, currently stolen by a group that is taunting God, believing their sin is not judgeable, but acceptable and needing to be accepted by the world. I know that He will not be taunted and that His patience does have an end. Over and over He delayed judgments on nations. Their iniquity was not “full”. They start out evil and get past the point of no return, and then He sent destroyers to clean up the mess. Every generation accepts a little evil, thinking it is harmless, and before they know it, the consequences come. The sin produces problems, the problems create actions that multiply the consequences, and the people who sin believe that more sins are acceptable. When we are so full of sin that righteousness looks foolish, there is nothing left for God to do but step in. The only way to cure cancer is to cut it out, chemo it to hit where it has spread, and radiate the immediate area where the cancer was concentrated to make sure it is all gone and doesn't take root again. It is a harrowing process. Sickness, burns, pain, and agony. But when it is said and done, there is remission, and in some cases, healing. Our rainbow-clad angel is telling us that this particular cancer has spread so far that it cannot be cured. The treatment to kill off the cancer cells will kill the patient. But it cannot be allowed to live any longer. It's a sad deal, but the clean-up of the universe is going to be put into action.

There is much to learn from our rainbow-clad friend. He points to God, the creator, and says that He did create all of this, and it is His to do with as He pleases, including destroy it all for rebelling. He tells John and the time to end all of evil has come. This is terrifying, but will result in those of the kingdom seeing the Blessed Hope coming and all going back to pre-rebellion. New heaven is coming, new earth, and a wedding. With all that is happening in the world, the tension is mounting. Who can do something about the mess we are getting ourselves into? God will deal with it, so when the rainbow-clad angel comes, know that it will be resolved quickly. Then we will be able to rest and rejoice. Until that time, keep looking up.

Royal robes John 19

 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him. John 19:2 Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. vs. 5

It has been a few weeks since Easter, Good Friday, etc. but the message of the crucifiction is never out of date. It is the essence of Christianity. If you really look at the story of Jesus getting bounced from one ruler to another during the trials before His condemnation, you will see that the issue they had was His kingship. Pilate directly pointed this out...”Shall I crucify your king?” was his question to the Jews, and the sign he placed over His head on the cross convicted Him of being KING OF THE JEWS. The Jewish rulers convened and said they would rather have Rome ruling over them than let Jesus stir things up. It was all a matter of whether Jesus was their King or not.

King:dictionary.reference.com/browse/king

• a male sovereign or monarch; a man who holds by life tenure, and usually by hereditary right, the chief authority over a country and people.

This is the definition of a king. It's a guy who inherits the right to rule.

And Jesus in their mind didn't qualify, but it was not because He didn't tell them He did. He told them over and over that God was His Father, and if that were true, that would make Him the inheritant of world authority. He should have been respected, listened to, and obeyed, though He didn't ask much of most people. Most were taught, a few were asked to do basic things to show they had faith, like washing their eyes or heading toward the synagogue, at which time they were healed. A few that wanted to walk close were asked to give things up and follow Him. But He never asked them to join an army, pay Him taxes or teaching fees, or to do anything He didn't do or set the example for them to copy. He was King, but He didn't exalt Himself. If He would have tried, they may have said worse things about Him. The people wanted to make Him king. He was nice, He healed people, met their physical needs, had compassion and cried with them. He was everything they thought a good leader should be. But He turned down the earthly kingship for an eternal one.

Did you ever think of what would have happened if He had let His power go to His head? He told them He could have called 10,000 angels to save Him. He could have taken over the temple at any point by force, but He let the Pharasees keep it. He could have wiped out the Romans, but He let them rule and told people not to bother fighting them. If He had not died, we would still be in our sin. We would be hopeless.

There have been a lot of things in life lately that make me feel a little on the hopeless side. Physical, psychological, financial...all sorts of things can grab a hold of the heart and wring the hope right out of it. And then I think of Christ. The worst thing that happened to Him was the best thing that happened to me (and you, if you accept it), and we are reassured that this world is not “It.” This isn't all there is. People will let us down, sin against us, die, cheat us, fire us, talk about us behind our backs...you get the drift.

But Jesus is King. He came out in the purple robe as a broken man because that is how the world sees Him. That's not how I see Him, for He is no longer broken. He is all powerful, all loving and kind, and He is the ruler of my life and of those who join the kingdom. He is benevolent to His own. Like Peter, we can be assured that Satan has permission to sift us like wheat, but He can't take our souls. Any pain of this world is a temporary thing. Any persecution will just make Glory all the better. We are a part of the eternal army that one day will someday put evil to eternal silence. He has promised, written the decree, and knows the beginning from the end. The older I get, the more I realize that the days slip away quickly, and carrying the burdens of them wearies the bones, greys the hair, and zaps our joy.

But when things get bleak, we hear a gentle voice calling us into the throne room. We are reminded whose we are, see a glimpse of the castle we will get to live in, and hear the songs of the angels in our hearts. The doubts slowly melt away, replaced by the peace that passes understanding. We will walk on water even in the midst of the storm. The King will wear the proper royal robes, and if He wants them to be purple or scarlet or changes them frequently during His eternal reign for our enjoyment, He will. We will reign with Him, so I guess our robes will be royal ones, too. He doesn't force His kingship on us...He lets us decide which kingdom we will serve. As much as we like to think we run our own lives, we don't. We will always have a ruler, and we get to choose who that is. I choose Christ. I choose to enter the throneroom for direction and comfort and peace of mind and heart. Won't you join me there?