Pyrite

“And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.”

— 1 Samuel 8:7 ESV

Israel wanted a king like everyone else. Someone to tell them how to live. Someone to lead them into battle. Someone the other nations would notice. Someone they could identity with and be envied.

But God wanted to be their king. And he wants to be ours.

We must resist the temptation to chase celebrity. And to rely on men to tell us how to live. To wait for another to motivate us to good works. Jesus is the risen Christ. He lives. He sits on the throne. And he invites us: "Come follow me." He's given us the Holy Spirit, his word, and direct access. To reject these is to reject him as king.

"My glory I will not give to another." (Isaiah 48:11)

Row, row, row your boat

This morning I saw four moms exercising at the park. They were using elastic bands to work their arms while singing:

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream

I think they were more interested in friendship and exercise than they were in theology. Who knows what they even believe about God?

But that song!

There are religions that teach life is just a dream—that reality only exists in the spiritual realm. But the Bible teaches otherwise. Both the spirit world and the physical world are very real.

Many Christians see life as rowing a boat gently downstream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily. Just passing through. But the Bible calls us to spiritual warfare. We've been given the Great Commission (Matthew 28). We pray "Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven". Life for the Christian is upstream stuff. And while we are to "count it all joy", it's not always merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily.

There was a time when 'go with the flow' meant fitting in with the community we were born into. Now, we can customize our community with a couple of taps or clicks and we can receive all the affirmation we crave. But now, as before, let Jesus' praise be enough.

Lead, follow, or accept restraint

When shepherds stop leading or sheep stop following, secure pens become inevitable.

I write this following another mass shooting in a school. There isn't much time for grieving over lives lost. Almost instantly, the gun control debate takes center stage.

I appreciate those who defend our Second Amendment right to bear arms. "Guns don't kill people. People do." My own father remembers how he and his friends carried shotguns to school so they could hunt rabbits right after the final bell.

I also appreciate those who notice that times have changed. No one feels it's okay for a student to carry a shotgun to school now.

The point is that freedom demands responsibility. The surest way to surrender freedom is to neglect responsibility. Those who appreciate more freedom need to figure this out. Fast. Because as self-government erodes, externally-applied government will overtake us. You can bank on it.

It's one reason the spread of the Gospel is so relevant and practical. It's one reason why the church needs to rediscover Kingdom culture. It was for freedom Jesus set us free.