Hope

The Inheritance of a Princess

One of the common refrains in my life is a reminder that I am the Daughter of a King. My point of reference was when I visited Buckingham Palace and saw the flag indicating that the Queen was in residence. Not having been raised in a monarchy, I don’t have the same frame of reference as Englanders do when we call Christ our King. In the shadows of Buckingham Palace though, I imagined what it would be like if the Queen stepped off her throne and bore the punishment of a common criminal. The magnitude of this substitution weighed heavy upon me, and ever since I’ve been in greater awe of the sacrifice of Creation’s King.

Sometimes, God uses these points of reference to teach us other truths about Him. For me, the analogy of the King took on a whole new meeting in light of Ephesians 1:3-14. The passage isn’t the easiest to parse, but what caught my attention were two words “predestined” and “inheritance.” Rather than getting caught up in the predestined vs. free will debate, I took these words in light of a monarchy. A princess doesn’t choose to be born into the royal family, she just is. That is her destiny. Her rightful place is as the King’s kid. In the same way, God choose to create a royal heritage. Some abdicate their rightful position, but it is His desire that we wouldn’t. And as the King’s children, we have a guaranteed inheritance, a bestowment of the Father’s riches. Sunday school graduates may be so used to this terminology that they breeze right through it, but think about it – we are to be given Kingly riches, the best of the best, because we are part of His family. How majestic His mercy! How wonderful His love!

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Hope

Found

One of my favorite things to share with people is that, growing up, I got in more trouble at church than I did anywhere else. It wasn’t because I was doing things that were necessarily bad – as my friends can attest I’m pretty compliant and tend to follow the rules. It was because I had no problem questioning what my youth pastors said. Looking back, I’m sure I was their worse nightmare. Most of the them were probably younger than I am now, and I was this junior high kid who wanted to debate their biblical interpretation (or lack thereof.) Not a one of them saw this as an opportunity; they all just wanted me to get with the program, their program. Somehow I don’t think my unwillingness to do so won me any friends (and despite my self-righteousness, I’m thinking I didn’t win too many heavenly jewels either.) Hence, the rather frequent lectures and reprimands.

The follies of our youth can sometimes follow us into adulthood, and I found myself in a similar situation recently. In an after-Bible study discussion, we were talking about the parables of the “lost” – the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son. Our pastor made the point that the story wasn’t about the lost ones finding their protector, it was about the protector finding the lost. Hence, the refrain “I found God” isn’t accurate; more aptly “God found me.” Although the debate was minimal (I don’t like to think I was ever lost to God), I think his point is probably the right one (and even if I didn’t, he has two master’s degrees to back it up.) Our Father is actively seeking our restoration. He’s removing barriers, overturning lampstands, and celebrating our admittance into His kingdom. He’s orchestrating ways for us to experience His grace. His greatest act of pursuit was sending His Son to bring the lost ones home. As with the coin, sheep, and prodigal son, there is nothing that we did to precipitate this. The action rests with Another.

The good news is that in each of the parables, that which was lost was being restored to its proper position. In the same way, our heavenly Father desires us to be restored into right relationship with Him. And even today, all the lost still has to do is to accept the restoration.

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