A Choice of Kings

Life is a choice of kings; it is a choice of who or what will rule the throne of your heart. And the choice is not inconsequential, for the sovereign you choose will impact greater the quality of your life.

In 1 Samuel 8 Israel requested a king. Samuel was growing old and his sons did not walk in his way, so the people looked around at other nations and thought it best to choose a king. Samuel did not like their request, but the Lord told him to grant it. He said, "They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being their king."

To let them know the consequence of this choice the Lord told Samuel to let them know what it would be like under this king. As you read the description it is filled with the statement, "He will take..." That is the way it is when we choose a king other than the Lord. The sovereign will only take from us, over and over. He will bring emptiness. Only the Lord Christ when He is enthroned will fill us. That is His way!

In Romans 6 we saw a choice as well. Paul says something will rule our hearts. Either sin will rule or righteousness will rule. Either we will be slaves to sin or slaves to God. These are the only options, and the consequences of this choice could not be any bigger. According to Paul slavery to sin leads only to death. He says about the other choice: "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you gets leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

We saw a choice of kings (or queens) in Jeremiah 44 as well. Jeremiah pled with the people to repent and cast away the idols and serve the Lord. Sadly, the people rejected his plea. Defiantly they declared that they would serve the queen of heaven. They thought she could deliver what they wanted better than the Lord. Again the consequences of their choice could not have been more significant. This choice only brought them exile and destruction. Such is the way when we choose the wrong sovereign.

Brothers and sisters, this theme is prominent in Scripture. Life will be lived under a sovereign. That sovereign will either be the Lord, who made heaven and earth and us, or it will actually be our glands. After all, any other thing we enthrone is just a puppet of our desires. And as the choice of sovereign had huge consequences in each of the examples above, so it will have in our life. Choosing any other sovereign but Christ will only lead to emptying oneself - diminishing your life until it leads to death. Choosing Christ (or as Paul would say, being chosen by Christ) leads to be filled by the One who is all and fills all - Jesus Christ.

As Joshua told the people as the end of his life - "Choose you this day whom you will serve." It really is a very important choice.