I read it in a book once, how some Christians in China leave an empty chair at the center of their home, representing the presence of the King in their lives. It’s so difficult to keep His sovereignty in perspective, I wonder if this wouldn’t be a helpful practice for all believers. The Unseen One has supreme authority in His story. Our lives are only brief lines and stanzas in the saga He’s penning.
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Power plus the Holy Spirit plus conviction: these are the sure identifiers of adoption. If we are missing these crucial factors, are we really in Christ? Or perhaps, are we inoculated? Like any vaccine, we’ve received just enough gospel to believe we’ve got it, but we’ve never truly allowed it to storm our frame and bend our will. We have yet to give ourselves over to the cause completely. We settle for some lesser, fraudulent version of Christ-following; where we keep our old life and options open.
I have thought so many times; I’m so grateful to live on this side of Easter. Post resurrection. Post ascension. Post Pentecost. Jesus is right, it is better for us that He went and sent His Sprit to empower us for every step of our great commission. I’m so glad to awaken to the promise of fullness, not loss. To hope, not dread. To joy, not sorrow.
Suddenly, I see people-pleasing as the idolatrous transgression it truly is. Valuing the opinion of man over the opinion of God or obedience to Him – well, this puts us in a precarious place. Just as we may cheat on the Almighty through materialism or appetite, we equally betray our Beloved by letting the applause or dismay of others have undue influence. We allow ordinary people to rule our affections (heart), motives (soul), thoughts (mind) and actions (strength). When we seek to please mere people, we dethrone the one true King.
Choosing to forgive a betraying spouse is perhaps the most bitter pill a wife can swallow. It requires arduous effort. But if we don’t or won’t forgive, the cost is far greater than our marriage. We can wind up cutting ourselves off from the most rewarding/redeeming relationship of all. We wind up despising when we are created to delight. We stand outside when we have been invited to come close. We thrash about in angst when we could be set free to soar with grace.
Home is not an address or a structure. It’s not a zip code or a state or a country. It’s not even a people, as I’ve previously thought. Addresses change. Buildings burn down or fall into disrepair. Zip codes boundaries are redrawn and governments crumble. People pass or pull away. If these temporary structures are our home we will always, eventually find ourselves homeless. Our permanent Home is found in our Lord alone.
To put this verse into modern terms, God the Father just handed over His keys, His wallet and His iPhone to His only Son. Not just to a station wagon, a rental house and a ten thousand dollar credit line, but to the UNIVERSE. God gave Jesus the authority He required to give eternal life; but we recognize the temptation involved in wearing such authority even for a little while.
Samuel’s use of ‘thus far’ reminds us that we are only as good as our last decision towards God. Holy men fail all the time. We must remain engaged with His word and His Spirit daily or we will backslide. Not may or might, but will.
It seems Israel needed to brandish God as a mere idol in order to realize the sordid state of their union with Him. Like a philandering husband who comes home to his belongings strewn across the front yard, Israel needed to be confronted with the reality of their adulterous ways. God had gone out from them and His people were plunged into a functional hell: the absence of His presence.