Do We Recognize the King of Our Lives? A Christmas Meditation

When we think of kings we think of privilege, palaces and thrones. We look for armies, power and riches. Is it no wonder that we often miss one aspect of the Christmas story and that is Jesus, born in a humble manger, is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! (1 Tim. 6:15, Rev. 19:16) In the United States of America we do not have kings but we have a government that is a republic. Even Scripture reminds us that upon Jesus' shoulders His government will stand. (Is. 9:6-7) No matter where one lives upon this planet, we cannot escape that Jesus is sovereign.  But do we recognize Him as our sovereign leader or do we look to ourselves and our earthly governments for our solutions to the problems we are responsible for?

When we look at the baby in a manger which is a feeding trough, we may not be convinced that He is the supreme ruler of our lives. We may say, "O how cute", but may not say, "Lord, save me!" After all, He is just a baby. Until He forms an army, I will put my trust in myself thank you very much. But we are called to see The King at His birth. The wise men saw it. Simeon saw it. Can we see it?

At His dedication in the temple, an old man exclaims, "My eyes have seen Your salvation!" (Lk. 2:22-35) He looked at this baby and saw salvation. But He is just a baby! The wise men followed a star looking for a king and would not stop until they paid tribute to Him. The star stopped and there in a house, just a house, was a baby. And they bowed down leaving their tribute of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They recognized a King even though there was no palace! No armed guards, no entourage. (Mt. 2:7-12)

In America we want more power to solve our problems of poverty and violence. We look to the force of government or fire power. We look to ourselves or those whom we elect. We don't look to a humble baby who has been promised long ago to be the Anointed One who will rule and govern us. We just don't see it! Old men and ancient wise men see it. But for the most part we are too smart and too proud to see it. We are the cause of our problems. It is called sin and we need to be saved from ourselves! We need to accept the gift God gave us in His Son, Jesus Christ, The Righteous! Look at Him for He is our salvation!

"Adoration of the Shepherds" by Gerard van Honthorst, 1622