I Reject The King's Portion! Part 6

Grace to you and peace from our Father dear brethren. Daniel 1:6-7 'Now from among those of the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. To them the chief of the eunuchs gave names: he gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abed-Nego'(NKJV). As we had ascertained earlier, every world system seeks to define us by its own standard. We also came to the inference that as long as you can answer to what the world defines you as, then it can allocate you an identity that is affiliated to it. In fact one of the key problems in the body of Christ today is that we have conformed to the definitions of the world on many a thing. As a result, we have constantly offered carnal solutions to Spiritual problems, and even sought out the solutions of the world to the problems and issues of the faith. The result is a mass commercialization of the gospel even as we try to streamline our churches and ministries to organizational and company structures. While there is clearly no problem with an efficiency-focused ministry structure, the issue comes in when we negate the role of direction to the “most academically qualified” or “most experienced manager” just because they run a successful corporate entity in the secular world! Success in ministry requires the leading of God, not more efficient works of man.

When Israel decides to choose a king in 1st Samuel 8:4-22, their core reason is that they wanted to be like the other nations that they had come across. Even despite Samuel giving them a clear picture of what having a king would be like, the people are still adamant in their pursuit. Samuel is distressed but the Lord reassures Him. What caught me about this passage is the response of the Lord towards their request. Verse 7 of this text says 'And the Lord said to Samuel, "Heed the voice of the people in all what they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them" (NKJV)'. The sad reality of the Israelites at this time is that they opted to trade in what defined them, so that they can adopt an identity in how the world defines things. To them a visible but limited king, was more important than an invisible yet unlimited God. What captures my attention is also the fact that they want Samuel to choose this king for them. This translates to the fact that they still wanted to retain a part in God. They wanted to experience a mixture of both worlds.

This is the sad state of things in the church today. We want to be defined by God, but we still give leeway to the world by letting it define the standard when it comes to music, media and fashion trends, conducting relationships and social interactions, how we make wealth and define success, etc. It is therefore commonplace to find people who are Christians by day and worldly at night, or even worldly during the week and Christian on Sundays and during Christian events and functions! As long as we give wiggle room to the definitions of the world, ours will remain an adulterated Gospel which carries no transformative power in it.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus have mercy on me. Where I have let the world defines me, and where I have mixed in the definition of the world with Yours, redefine me. Change me today. Amen