Is Jesus your hobby or your king? That question was first posed to me by one of my mentors, Dr. Jim Denison. I heard him ask the question at a conference for spiritual awakening he cosponsored with Anne Graham Lotz, the daughter of the late Billy Graham. Both agreed the reason we are not seeing spiritual awakening in the United States is because too many people have not allowed Jesus to possess the rightful place he desires in our hearts, the place of king. They have relegated him to other positions instead. And we wonder why peace is not ours as individuals. We wonder why peace is not ours as a nation.
We feel threatened by Jesus’ desire to be the king of our lives, but why? He only desires what is best for us. And what is best is his plan, his will, a life lived in surrender to him. Ironically, this desire for surrender comes from an experience with his love and grace, from the understanding that there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation or right standing with him, that reconciliation with a holy God comes as a free gift through Jesus. This is what grace is. It is unmerited favor. “We love him because he first loved us,” John says (1 John 4:19). Which means that when the desire for surrender is not present, it is evidence we have settled for less than God’s love for us, for other idols that will ultimately lead to emptiness and despair. We fear surrendering control of our lives to Christ, but there is really no reason to.
Herod fears giving up his power in Matthew’s Christmas account. He falls prey to paranoia. The magi come to him asking where the king of the Jews is to be born. They have seen a star in the sky and are convinced it will lead them to the newborn king. Another king? Herod feels threatened immediately, even though this future king is obviously a child. In fact, he becomes convinced that he, as a human, can somehow thwart the plan of God. By ordering all the male children two years old and younger to be killed in the region of Bethlehem, he believes he can stop this king in his tracks and can preserve his own royalty. He is wrong. Joseph wisely heeds the instructions of the angel and takes Mary’s newborn son to Egypt for a time. Even the wise men are given a new route home by the angel, as God’s protective hand is with them. Herod cannot buck providence. And neither can we.
Too many react to the child the same way Herod does. They feel threatened by him. They do not want him to dethrone their lives and take control. The fear is just too great. They would have to give up too much, so they think. Little do they know that if they allowed the love of this child to shine just a small ray of light into their hearts, this fear would subside greatly. John says it best: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:19). In the end, Herod’s fear of giving up his throne leads to great suffering in the lives of others, and his own destruction as well, as his reign ends much sooner than he thinks. What might have happened had he bowed to the newborn king instead of fearing him? Undoubtedly, his life would have taken on a much different course.
As is the case with us. Jesus has come so that we may “have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10). He offers us a quality of life on earth along with a life that continues forever in heaven, a life that is eternal. Yet, too often we settle for second best. Dethroning ourselves as the king of our lives is a price that is deemed too high by far too many. And so, they continue to rule their own lives instead, and forfeit much by doing so. “We are half-hearted creatures,” writes C.S. Lewis, “fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
Might this Christmas season by different for you? Will you finally let go of this fear, fear that has prevented you for years from surrendering your life to this child? Will you pause long enough to approach the manger with a kind of boldness you never have, a confidence that causes you to gaze upon his eyes and discover infinite love instead, love that leads this child years later to die a cruel death on a Roman cross to completely remove your sin and mine, love that is made complete as he conquers death and is raised to life on the third day. By laying aside your fear, by relinquishing the throne of your life to this child, true life, real life can now be yours. Instead of your hobby this Christmas, will you make Jesus your King?