Jesus was not the kind of king the Jews were expecting as they waited for the Messiah. They wanted an earthly king, but Jesus came to be King of our hearts.
“My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
— John 18:36
We miss out on the best Christmas present ever when we expect less from our Jesus that what he came to give.
“Jesus came for the throne of your heart, not to be king of your circumstances.” This was the main point pastor Paul McDill drove home at c|Life’s Sunnyvale campus on Sunday. He dragged Tyler, the poor unsuspecting student pastor at Sunnyvale, up on stage. Then Paul had Tyler sit on a stool and told us that Tyler represented God, and the stool was God’s throne. Tyler got to sit there as long as things in life were difficult, but Paul would scoot poor Tyler off that stool and sit there himself when things in life tuned around. It was only when things went south that Tyler got to sit on the stool again. Back and forth. God on the throne, God off the throne. It all depended on how things were going.
I, however, tend to operate a little differently than what Paul explained. I’m the type that has God on the throne — powerful, loving, ruling and directing my life — when things are good. Or when things are hopelessly bad. However, when things are getting a little shaky or unpredictable, but still in the zone of being salvageable and it looks like God could use my help, I’ll join him on the throne. When I’m sure of what needs to happen in a situation, I’ve even been known to shove him off the throne completely, sitting there myself and proceeding how I think best. But lets not quibble. If you are the type that wants God around mostly when things are difficult or, like me, enthrone God mostly when things are easy or hopeless, we have all missed out on the fullness of what Jesus came to earth to give. God came to be on the throne of our hearts all the time, and we don’t have to be on the throne at all.
The simple message of Christmas is this: Jesus is born! The Lord has come! He wants to be King of our hearts, to be King of our comings and our goings, in good times and bad. We will never know the full extent of who this King is, and what he can and wants to do in us, through us and for us, unless we enthrone him at all times. Praise and trust him when things are good. Praise and trust him when things are bad. Praise and trust him in every circumstance in between.