You are a king. We learned that two
weeks ago. And Jesus is the King of all kings. He is our Leader and
we need to follow Him. We need to act like He would and say what He
would say. We need to stand up in a broken world like a king and
reach out to those in need. We are now from a Kingdom where we are
provided for, where we are looked after. And therefore we have the
ability to look after others and lure them into His Kingdom. For
when we realise that we are kings, we will have a different
mindset. We will not be as competitive to win favour in this world,
we will not trample on others to reach the top and we will not hold
on to our possessions for dear life. We won't. We will be more
relaxed, knowing that we are kings already provided and atoned
for.
Realise that you are destined to
reign, that is your destiny. Romans 5:17 states this clearly:
"For if by one man's offense
death reigned through that one, much more those who receive
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in
life through the One, Jesus Christ."
We have received abundance of grace
and the gift of righteousness and therefore we can reign in life
through Jesus Christ living within us. Let us have a look at the
two things that we have received in abundance and as a gift, namely
grace and righteousness.
Grace means "Charis" in Greek. And
in this context it means: "God bestow favours even upon the
ill-deserving, and grants to sinners the pardon of their offences,
and bids them accept of eternal salvation through Christ." We are
accepted through Christ. God bestows favours on us undeservingly.
He gives us special treatment, because of His Son's death on the
cross. We have eternal salvation if we believe in Christ; we are
partakers of grace (Philippians 1:7). And that is why Paul tells us
in Colossians 4:6 that because we are saved by grace, our speech
must also convey this truth. We must transfer the abundance of
grace that we received towards others too.
Righteousness means "Dikaiosune" in
Greek. It means "the state of him as he ought to be, the condition
acceptable by God: integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness,
correctness of thinking, feeling and acting." None of us come close
to being in the right acceptable condition that God expects. But
notice the wonderful word 'gift'. Jesus came and gave it to us as a
gift. We can now wear the breastplate of righteousness (Ephesians
6:14), and know that we are as we ought to be, sons of God,
kings.
God has bestowed unearned favour
upon us and He has given us the gift to be like Him, righteous,
holy and true (Ephesians 4:24). Why did He give all this to us? So
that we can reign in life. So that we should not be slaves to the
useless powers of this world any longer, but that we should reign
over them. God knew that His enemy could entice people to sin and
behave unrighteously and He knew that He cannot come near sin or
tolerate it. And this combination was a winning recipe to keep
people away from God and His wonderful plans for them. But now
Jesus came and took the punishment for our sins so that God needn't
punish us anymore, plus He gave us the gift of righteousness to
walk as He wants us to. We are therefore free from this world and
free to reign over all He has created.
We must just realise this truth
about us and start walking in it. God is not angry with us, in fact
He wants us to walk with Him even closer than Adam did. He wants
His Kingdom to flow through us into this broken world and heal the
sick. He wants us to be perfect representatives of Who He is and
lure others in. He wants us to be who we ought to be, who He
created us to be. And this is possible, through Him and His saving
grace. Grab hold of it and walk on streets of gold. Allow the power
and the majesty of our God to flow through you and change this
world into a better place.
Father thank you for the wonderful
gift of righteousness and for Your abounding grace towards us. We
are humbled and so deeply grateful. Lord we take these gifts and we
will use them to the glory of Your Kingdom. We will reign in life
through Your precious Son, Jesus Christ. Amen