“To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen” (Jude 24-25).
I read this morning about the people of Israel asking Samuel for a king. Samuel talked to God about the situation and God said to go ahead and anoint a king, but tell the people what will happen when they have a king. If you are not familiar with that event it is recorded in 1 Samuel 8. Verses 10 to 18 list all the things that will happen when they have a king; he will take your sons and daughters to work for him, he will take the best of your fields and a tenth of your crops, etc.
But the people wanted a king anyway. So after warning the people not to turn away from God, Samuel said, “For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.” I had underlined those words in my Bible sometime in the past. This morning, however, I thought about the King of kings.
The Apostle Peter reminds us we are “a people belonging to God” (1 Peter 2:9). The Apostle Paul charged Timothy to “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness” (1 Timothy 6:11) until Jesus comes again; “which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15).
King Jesus is above all kings but He does not take as much as He gives. He gave His life for our salvation. He made a way for us to be His people. He gives us His Spirit to guide us, and He has made peace between us and our heavenly Father. “The Lord was pleased to make you his own.” With such a loving, forgiving, and giving King, how can I do less than to give Him my all? Am I allowing Him to be the King of my life?