A Child of the King

I didn’t want to pray today. Palm Sunday, right? I don’t know why I didn’t want to pray, I just didn’t. Yet, it was time to sit down and do it. I could think of a lot of things I’d rather do at this moment. (But I’m sure you’ve never been in that frame of mind, have you? Have you?)

Even so, I figured I’d do it. After all, I had my prayer list, and I thought that since I really didn’t want to get into it with God today, I’d just pray the list.

God, of course, wasn’t having any of that. As soon as I with opened the channel, (you know, bowed my head, closed my eyes and said, “Our Father. . .) focusing, ever so slightly on God, He spoke to me. Frankly, it surprised me a bit. I figured if I didn’t have a thing of substance, of real thought, of real intention to say to Him, neither would He pay any attention to me.

I was wrong. He unloaded on me immediately. (I find that frequently to be the case.) He told me to put down the list and just listen. Very shortly several related thoughts came to me. First in line was, “Am I a Child of the King?” Why did I think that? Well, many times, I think that I am a pretender and not a child of His. I say this because of sins I have committed.

In a short running conversation between God and me going on in my mind, He said, “Of course, you’re a Child of the King.” I argued, “But I have sinned, I am a sinner, and I deserve damnation!” He replied, “Yes, you have sinned, but I have forgiven you. Yes, you are a sinner – but a sinner saved by Grace. So, don’t worry about your immortal soul, I’ve got that.”

I realized, somewhat shockingly, that in fact, I WAS a Child of the King. I didn’t get there by not sinning, and I don’t stay there by not sinning. This is true for two obvious reasons. First, I do sin and I will sin. If it were left up to me to keep my status by not sinning, I would not keep it, or as the Old Preacher said, “I’d bust Hell wide open.”

Secondly, and more importantly, I’m a Child of the King because the King loved me and adopted me. He made me so. I’m not totally sure why. I suppose it has to do with His undying love for humans. In fact, this week, Holy Week, we’ll mark just how far He went to make that happen.

That being so, I should do my best to be worthy of my status, though, in some regards, that is a fool’s errand, but, it’s not for my sake, but, for His. It is my task and honor to uphold His name because I now bear it.

That’s the other thing God said to me, “You’re a Child of the King, now, just act like it. No rules, no commandments, no lists, no plaques, no stone engravings, just act like you’re a Child of the King. If you do that, the rest – the “doing” – will fall into place. Not because you CAN do it, you cannot, but because I say so.”

I’m sitting here in a lawn chair, in the driveway, subject to a newly-minted “Stay at Home” order, 70 years old, a church member for about 63 of those years. And this, all of a sudden, is the most astonishing assurance that I can remember receiving! As the former televangelist, Ernest Angley would say, “Amazing, amazing!”

Yes, it IS amazing. And, despite my bent toward hubris, it’s not because I earned anything, but because God said so. And HE is AMAZING.

Because His Name is “Amazing,” and because I bear that name, should I endeavor to be anything less? I think not. Will I achieve this? Again, I think not. But, by His “Amazing Grace,” I’m a Child of the King and I’ll act like.

I almost wrote, “… and I’ll try to act like it.” But then I thought of a quote from Yoda, the Jedi master, “Try not – do.”

So let it be written, so let it be done.