Anthony’s Thought Repository

Being A Subject: A Lost Understanding

Ξ February 16th, 2006 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Theology |

What do we know about submitting?  What do we know about being the subject of a king?  North American society has never really had much experience with monarchy.  I mean there were some royalty involved earlier on, but it’s never looked to us like it once did in medieval Europe.  There are no castles here in which our leaders lived.  For some places there was a time that these castles were the home to the leaders and a stronghold in which a stand could be taken against an invading neighbor.  We’ve never needed that here.  WE are the invading neighbor (I’ll save that whole part for another post), so we don’t really have any experience being a royal subject.

Consider this…a meditation if you will…

You’re living in medieval times in England.  The king whose kingdom you live in is a kind and generous king.  He is a capable leader.   He is good to his subjects and ruthless with his enemies.  You spend your life growing up knowing that to be in his good book is a great place to be.  You also know that to make an enemy of the king could very easily mean your head on a block.  You are fully aware that the king has the right at any time to choose your destiny.  He could bring you close to work in his courts or he could just as easily order you to death.  Why can he do this?  Well, he’s the king.  It’s been this way for centuries.  It’s not open for discussion and you don’t really think about it because this is how it’s been for your entire life. 

What I’m saying is that you’re not upset about it as you might be if this was all of a sudden the case here and now in 2006.  We like to believe that no one can tell us what to do.  We like to know that no one has the right to choose for us to do anything that would be against our will.  Consider though that you had not been raised with that.  Consider that you are used to living under a king who does in fact have the right to choose for you. 

Now lets not all start resenting and hating the king right of the bat here.  Remember, he’s a good, just, and generous king.  Compared to neighboring kingdoms, the kingdom you live in enjoys all kinds of freedoms that kings in other kingdoms often disallow.  In the grand scheme of things, it’s a good place to live.

Now one day, while you are in the market trading some goods for food, you hear one of the king’s heralds in the square making an announcement.  The king has invited his subjects to his palace for an afternoon.  The courts would be open for the people to come in and watch the king on his thrown and to spend time dancing and enjoying a royal feast, truly fit for the king himself.  Some might even get the chance to speak to the king himself.  Face to face. 

This isn’t the first time this has happened.  The king does this every year the harvest is bountiful and the economy is good.  It has become known as the best party in the land.  It is an honor to be permitted to attend.

The great day arrives.  You and your family leave early to try and guarantee that you get a spot in the king’s court.  Those who arrive late sometimes can’t get in the courts at all.  That’s not all bad because the king sends servants outside the courts with arms full of food and drink.  There are tables set up all along the streets leading to the palace.  The king wants to be sure that all who answer his invitation receive food and drink.  He wants them to know that they are all important. 

When you arrive at the palace the line is already started.  You stand in line eagerly watching to see if the courts fill up before you reach the gates.  This year you came early enough.  You pass beneath the impressive arches that span the entrance to the castle’s outer courts.  Tables fill the space and servants can be seen finishing the last of the setup for the celebration.  These are the tables people will fill once the palace itself fills with people. 

The palace is breathtaking.  It’s beautiful.  You walk from the outer courts through the doors into the palace itself.  You soon realize that you are actually going to get a seat in the inner courts – the throne room.  The throne room is a huge, cavernous space with decorations hanging from wall to wall. 

There are many tables in the room.  The ones closest to the throne itself are all reserved. They are for the lords and the kings immediate family and friends.  You manage to seat your family at a table about half way between the throne and the back of the room.  The room quickly fills with people.  You can see through the doors that you came in.  Outside the throne room the tables in the outer courts have already started filling up.  There is a buzz in the air.  The excitement is beginning to wash over the room in waves of energy.  You can almost feel everyone’s excitement in getting their chance to see the king himself, not as a speck in a window, but as real live person only a short distance away. 

And oh the throne!  For a piece of furniture it almost seemed as though it possessed a personality.  Its ornate presence in the room was so impressive, that it almost made your heart stop.  The feeling was only further enhanced by the knowledge that soon that very seat would be occupied by the most important being in the kingdom.  The king himself would sit there and cast his gaze over all his royal subjects.  Filled with gratitude and awe, the subjects would bow and cheer and show their utmost respect for the one to whom they owed their security, wellbeing and their very life. 

Another wave of excitement passes by.

By now all of the seats in the throne room are full and the minstrels have begun playing somewhere up near the front of the room.  The lords and nobles have begun to come in to the room to take their seats.  Friends of the king are finding space at some of the tables too.  You notice that even some of his well known servants are among the guests.  The king saw fit to give them a day off to be served and treated as one of his honored guests.

You find your thoughts returning time and time again to the simple fact that the king CHOSE to do this for all of you.  He didn’t have to.  He could have kept all of his riches for himself.  His throne room would have been as spectacular even if you were never there.  His personal meals could be all that much more extravagant if this party wasn’t being thrown.

You realize that this man who is called king is truly worthy of being in his throne.  He is a great man.  It’s an honor just to be allowed to be there.  You could go home feeling like you’ve been a part of something great even if you never even saw him with your own eyes. 

Here you are, in a room that at any moment the king himself with enter and take his place on the throne.  What a privilege.  What an honor.  What a special and extraordinary day this is.

Just then the buzz changes.  The words floats by that the king is coming.  It’s time.  People rush to take their seats.  The music stops.  A hush begins to fall over the room.  A door at the front of the room swings open.  Everyone rises.  People bow their heads.  The king in all his majesty and greatness glides into the room and takes his place on the throne.  In reverence and awe, the subjects in the room continue to bow in order to show their gratitude and respect for that man that has truly earned their respect.  Nobody speaks.  The silence and the fact that everyone in the room joined at that moment to show a sign of respect to their king seems to have more effect than any speech or fan fare could have provided.  At that moment, you realize that it was this act that truly enthrones the king.  Any man could have sat there, but it was the king with his true goodness and great majesty that earned the respect of the royal subjects.  They chose to honor him.

Now let’s step out of our little story.  In this story the people bowed before the king.  Why did they do that?  Well it was the appropriate response.  It was a way of conveying respect and submission.  In some kingdoms you might even lose your life if you didn’t remember to show this respect.

So now let’s make a small change to our little picture here.  The king is no longer the king we spoke of but is now the King of the Heavens.  God.  He possesses all that out first king possessed only more so.  He is perfectly just, bountifully loving and kind, and glorious beyond description.

Imagine Him walking into that throne room.  What would the appropriate response be then?   To recite a liturgy?  To sing a song?  Well, perhaps the time for that would be a little later.  In fact would a king not enjoy a song as we would?  Would he not be honored by some words that extol his virtues?

I think that when the most sovereign God enters our presence, we need to consider this scene and ask ourselves what is appropriate.  I submit that no words or activity that we can offer will truly grasp the fullness of the moment, and in some ways, to even try would be offensive.  I submit that perhaps the only truly appropriate thing to do in that moment is to bow or to even fall on your face.  If you truly knew who God was and you loved Him, and you found yourself face to face with Him in all his glory and presence, I think that you could not get low enough on the ground to convey the fullness of his rightful place as your king and ruler. 

I don’t see a lot of bowing happening in churches these days.  I see us filling up the time with our…stuff.  Good stuff, don’t get me wrong, but there’s very little sense of allowing a time for Him to come into our presence (and indeed for us to come into His presence) and take his place.  This is not to say that the King can’t be worshipped in other ways.  He can.  This is also not to say that the bowing aspect should be the only aspect we concern ourselves with.  There is a time to be out working in His kingdom and committing your life to simply ensuring the kingdom is fruitful.  There is also a time to respond to the Kings call to come to the inner places and to spend time in His presence.  There is a time to bow, a time to sing, a time to praise, a time to work, a time to rest, and a time to make requests of the King.  So many churches miss a whole part of the picture.  We sing, praise and make requests.  Almost no one takes a Sabbath and rests.  Very few bow. 

We must remember who we worship.  He is the Most High God, The Sovereign King of Heaven, The alpha and the Omega, The Beginning and the End.  This is why we need to bow.

We need to bow because it’s all true.  We bow because God is worthy.  Our bowing doesn’t make him worthy.  Our bowing shows Him that we acknowledge His worth and that no words can truly give enough credit to who He is.  We bow also because we are his subjects.  We bow to show that we submit the throne to Him.  We acknowledge that the throne belongs to Him and not to us. 

Bowing is about being a subject of a king and this is something that we really know nothing about.  All I know about it is that we need to bow.  We need to stop thinking that Jesus is ONLY our friend.  He is a merciful and loving servant of mankind, yes, but as well as all that, He is King.  Not just any king, but one who is absolutely worthy of all honor and praise.

I believe our times of corporate worship should include times of corporate bowing – however that might look.  We need to find a way to reconnect with and operate within the model of a king and his royal subjects.  We need to learn to submit. 

Do you acknowledge His kingship? 

When was the last time that you bowed before Him?

When was the last time that your church collectively bowed before Him to unite in a statement of respect and honor for the king? 

A Trivial Pursuit

Ξ February 10th, 2006 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Theology, That's Life |

When I take a step back and look at our highly advanced society, I find myslef realizing that with all our technology and ability, most of us really do nothing with it.  Our use of it is sadly trivial at best. 

Our idea of “a good life” is ridiculous.  Look at our hobbies.  For many of us, our hobbies are fruitless.  They are a meaningless distraction.  While the our society is a total mess of good people permitting bad things to happen simply because we don’t want to step on someone else’s “rights”, we choose to do things like play video games, watch movies, and work out.  The resources we have could change millions of lives around the world.  We chose instead to use these same resources to hypnotize us and make us sometimes totally fruitless.

Instead of doing a truly good thing, like getting out there and BEING with people for the simple purpose of drawing near to them, we drown ourselves in a mountain of distractions (like self-righteous blog writing - believe me - I see the irony here).  If we all did our part, I mean truly did our part, we could literally change the world.  If we could get it straight in our heads who we really owe for all our technology and money, perhaps we would put all this stuff to work to actually make a difference. 

How much do you do in a day that is mainly just a trivial waste of time?  How much time do you waste on things that serve yourself?  There are a million options in our culture.  Movies, Television, Fitness Clubs, Music, Shopping Malls,…. I mean each of these things COULD be a GREAT thing, but overindulgence or misplaced indulgence can make these things far from great.  

A person could watch a movie and get inspired with a new idea they didn’t previously have and then actually use their own arms and legs to DO something with that new idea.  Often though, we just use the movie as a drug.  We find ourselves sensationalized through the movies.  We like the ways they make us feel – excited, happy, sad, turned on…  So there’s a satisfaction aspect of why we watch movies.  Those same kinds of feelings could be achieved doing a number of other activities, many of which include contact with other humans who really NEED the contact.  And I’m not only talking about the weird guy on the street corner, I mean the guy you say “hi” to every day at work.  Your sister.  Your brother.  Your best friends. 

True, it’s good to take care of one’s physical health, so working out is always good, right?  Wrong, even that gets perverted and becomes just another form of worshipping one’s self.  How buff can I get?  I’ve reached the healthy level of fitness, so now I must take it further and work out so much I neglect my family.  I’ll start taking supplements that might help with building muscle, but in the process they put at risk a number of other parts of my body.  I’ll try various diets and starve my body of things that doctors haven’t realized I need yet.  No worry though, when they figure it out, they’ll launch a new diet and I’ll do that one instead.  Next thing you know your mission of just getting healthy and fit has become something else - something far from healthy.

Television, well do I really need to discuss this?  It’s the nation’s babysitter, teacher, and in some cases, parent.  Though TV can be educational and positive, its designed to be addictive and so we become subject to the hurtful part of it that we never wanted to intentionally take in.

Music?  Well this one hits close to home for me as many of the others do.  Music is an art form that could be a beautiful thing all the time.  Sadly the music industry has been taken over by people who have seen how lucrative it can be.  So what music do most people here?  The marketable stuff.  You almost never hear an artist’s best song on the radio.  Well sadly, sometimes the crap that you hear IS the artist’s best offering, but if there was something better, you better believe that if it doesn’t “fit” with where the music of the day is going, you’ll never hear it.  So some of the most interesting stuff is never heard at all.  What a shame.  Then there are those people who set out to use music as a way of getting rich.  For them, the music isn’t about art and conveying a valuable message.  For them it’s about an image they can produce for themselves in order to become famous and rich.  Like movies, we listen to music because of how it can interface with our emotions.  It’s a positive thing to listen to music.  But what’s the point of being inspired by a lyric if it never draws you out to do anything with that inspiration?  We think that if we listen to it enough times, somehow we will have a part of the greatness in the song.  It’s simply not the case. 

What about shopping?  Well, what are we buying, and why?  Do we NEED another pair of shoes?  How many pairs do you have?  Do I need another gadget - another flashing light in my life?  What COULD I be buying and for whom?  Even then, would it help?

All good things can be messed up in this way.  I mean I think there’s a time when all these things can be positive and life-giving additions to our lives. We are fortunate to have the option of taking part in these things at all.  Many things can be used for good purposes.  Even if the purpose is to simply relax and get some release from the frenzied pace of life.  That is a good and worthy purpose, but there’s a line, I think, where us losing ourselves is irresponsible.  We have the means in our society to create a healthy world.  We don’t do it because we say that no one has the right to tell me what I should do with my time or money.  So to exercise that right, I’ll do precisely nothing.  That’ll show ‘em!

How sad we are.  There are enough resources on our planet to end hunger, and to give everyone clothes to wear and home to live in.  Somehow though, the storehouses remain closed to the public and yet bursting at the seams. 

In the end, our rights won’t matter much.  We’ll be dead and if you believe (well, even if you don’t believe), God will look upon us and He won’t consider our rights.  Hopefully He’ll love us enough to oversee what we’ve neglected to do.  Maybe He won’t be thinking of the thousands that died of starvation in my lifetime.  Maybe he won’t remember how many sweaters I horded in my closet while there were people in my town or city who had no sweaters to wear at all – and THEY live outside. 
Perhaps He has His own distractions and He just won’t think of what I could have been doing while I watched my movies and played my video games.  Yeah, maybe He’ll just say, “Did you murder anyone?  Did you steal from a neighbor?”, and that’ll be it.

The point is that we can’t know what it will be like, but I can’t escape the feeling that we have a responsibility to be good stewards of our time. We assume that our only responsibility is to not do harm to people and that’s it, but I can’t escape the feeling that there is more to it than that.  I fear we will be held responsible for what we have neglected to do.

Hypocrisy: Is there a grace period?

Ξ February 6th, 2006 | → 1 Comments | ∇ Theology |

I was thinking the other day that there is something interesting about hypocrisy.  Have you ever noticed that there seems to be a grace period between when you discover something that you should be doing and when not doing it actually becomes hypocrisy?

I’m thinking with a theological, Christian perspective here.

We often think of hypocrisy as saying one thing and then not doing it.  So in a Christian context that might be something like saying, “Love your neighbor”, when in your own life you never extend a loving hand to those around you.  It happens all the time, right?  We can all agree that it would be hypocritical to not follow one’s own understanding of the Bible.

So what about this?

What about when you previously didn’t know something?  For example, let’s say you didn’t realize that you were abusing someone emotionally.  I know it seems heavy, but I need something like this to make my point. Let’s say you thought your actions were not hurting someone at all, when all of a sudden in some way you learned that you were in fact responsible for someone’s emotional anguish.  Let’s also assume that this is happening in a relationship that you have been in for a long time, like perhaps a marriage, or an old friendship.

So you find yourself convicted.  You realize you need to make a change and you are inspired to do just that.  At the same time you recognize that this change will cost you.  It will be a difficult change to bring about in yourself, though you know in your heart that you can’t allow the change not to happen because you love the person you have hurt. 

My thought is this.  With God and all His grace, it would seem that in some cases something like this is not really expected to bring on immediate change.  There is a period of adjustment that seems to be allowed.  So during that change, are you in a state of self revelation, or are you a recovering hypocrite?  

The prior would suggest that while you are figuring yourself out, you are still holding on to a piece of your innocence.  God understands that we are slow learners sometimes, so do you think you are hypocrite right away, or does he give you time to make your move and after the clock runs out, you either become a hypocrite or you don’t?  Like, if you don’t make the necessary change the moment you become aware of something, is that immediately hypocrisy?  Or is hypocrisy when you intentionally and actively defy your own words with your actions?

Another example:  Let’s say you have been a Christian for a number of years as I have.  Let’s say you have spent a lot of Sunday mornings learning from the scriptures at church and all that.  Let’s say that you believe what we are supposed to be doing is loving one another and telling the world about Jesus. 

How long can you believe that and not do it before you become a hypocrite?  How long does God allow for us to figure our stuff out before he really requires this of us?  In my experience, it would seem we can go a LONG time.

How bad is it to be a hypocrite anyways? 

It’s like there’s this thing that happens when God convicts us.  He says, “Son, [or daughter] you’re missing something I need you to stop missing.”  We immediately know our guilt and feel sometimes incredible shame.  Immediately He seems to wrap His arms around us to comfort us.  In this moment you recognize that forgiveness has already come, and though you know your shame, you feel as though you have been granted some kind of permission to sort of take your time in sorting the issue out.

It’s almost as though His love actually undermines what would seem to be His intention of convicting you in the first place.  It’s weird to put it that way, but that’s what it seems like.  It’s as though He loves us so much that He can’t stand to see us suffering, even when it’s our fault.  But make no mistake, ours is not a flaky God.  His way is always right and supremely just. 

I don’t know, I just think it’s interesting that we don’t call ourselves hypocrite at the first sign of contradiction between our actions and our words.  It’s almost like we save that label for people who just stop trying.

I’ve got to say that I never REALLY consider myself a hypocrite, but it’s quite possible that I’ve been one for most of my life.