NO KING BESIDES ME 2
NO KING BESIDES ME 2
Christmas
We like it just the way we like it…right? I mean, I want to call the shots about my life. I want to be in total control over decisions that affect me. So, we don’t like school, because people are always telling us what to do. We don’t like chores because I would rather do things that I like to do. We like to be King or Queen of our own life.
Pray: “God, help me to let go and let you be King or my life.”
Grab Your Bible: Read Matthew 2:1-16.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”[c]
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
Ok, same story that we read earlier. King Herod was upset, ANGRY when the wise men asked where the new king was born. He was king. He wanted the power and he did not want to share it. In fact, he loved power so much he had members of his own family killed so he would have no competition as king. So when he heard the news of a new king, he was not happy. Then the wise men did not return to tell him where Jesus was, so King Herod killed all the boys 2 years and younger in Bethlehem. That’s brutal!
Jesus is Lord! That is something we hear lots in and around churches. But did you know, it means Jesus is King. So when you say Jesus is Lord, you are saying Jesus is King of my life. Wow!
But if you like to control your own life, you are lord of your life. And like Herod, you and I try to kill off things that compete with us.
God is asking for complete surrender of your heart, your desires to God. That is a big ask! But it is worth it to really let Jesus be King of your life. Jesus came as a baby to be Lord of our lives.
Prayer: “Jesus, it is tough to let go and let you have complete control of my life. I do not even know what that looks like. Help me. Let me let You be the King of my heart.