The Kingdom of Me

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air …” (Ephesians 2:1-2 Bold added)

Every kingdom has one thing in common: a king. Not two kings, one king. Every one of you has one thing in common: you are ruled by a king. Not two kings, one king.

Jesus makes this abundantly clear when he says, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other… ” (Matthew 6:24)

But we protest, “It’s not that black and white. I can be my own king – or queen – of my castle … sometimes, when it’s … necessary, and still live and serve in God’s Kingdom.” But wouldn’t you agree “when it’s necessary” means when we think it’s necessary, and that would be when we don’t trust God to be King?

So, we are trusting ourselves to rule, over God.

When you are king of your castle you will always seek first the Kingdom of Me. Now this may or may not include benevolent acts, giving of money and time, and various other acts of kindness, but it will always be filtered through a lens of Me: as in “What’s in it for me?”

Do you disagree? Let me pose this question: what is your first thought when you hear some bit of personal news, and/or something happens, either good or bad? We both know your first thought is, “How does this affect me?” I’m not saying you’re a bad person, I’m just saying you’re human.

And you live and rule over the Kingdom of Me. The consequence of this is a C- life, which is the best this kingdom can ever produce. I only know this because I lived for so long in the same pathetic little kingdom, and still revert back to Ruler from time to time. It takes one to know one.

But after so many years of trying to rule my little Kingdom of Sam, I was exhausted. I was weary of trying to be the king, and certainly weary of the enormous energy it required, and drained, to maintain my kingdom. So I gave up. I abdicated the throne!

I didn’t want to be in charge anymore.

When I was younger I had some early success as a real estate developer. One afternoon an experienced homebuilder and developer came to see me. He surprised me when he said he wanted to come to work for me.

I was taken aback, and stammered out something like, “John, you are older than I, more experienced than I, and much smarter. You’ve been your own boss for a long time. Why would you want to work for me?”

He looked across the desk and said, with a slight smirk, “Yes, I’ve been the boss for a long time, and let me tell you something, Sam, being the boss isn’t so great.”

Neither is trying to be king of your castle.

You can always know when you are on the throne: life has more anxiety, plain and simple. Think about it: when it’s up to you to defend the castle, when it’s to you to advance the borders, when it’s all up to you, anxiety and stress rule the day.

You want a life of peace? Get off the throne of Me. You want the A+ life to the full Jesus promised? Abdicate the throne of Me. The fruits of the Spirit, love joy, peace, patience, cannot be had while you are perched atop this throne.

Instead, you will look like those silly, pompous, fat kings of the movies (even Jabba the Hutt!)  lounging around in togas, being fed fruits and fanned with big branches. Powerful? Powerless. Their fruits are the fruits of this culture, and have nothing to offer but a hunger for more.

If you want a life of joy, freedom and power, surrender your throne to the one and only true King, and join in exclaiming, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:17)