CHRIST THE KING
If you were to see Jesus on the street today, would you recognize him as your King.
To be genuine followers of Jesus, Christ our King, you have to recognize who and what you are. What your strengths and weaknesses are, what gifts and limitations you have.
For example, you may have the gift of intergenerational persuasion but be limited in your ability to organize. Obviously what you need to do, while you are enhancing your gift of persuasion, like a concert pianist practicing, is to develop your ability to organize.
St Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians enumerates with inspired mathematics the many and varied gifts received from the Holy Spirit. There is the expression of wisdom; the expression of knowledge; the gifts of healing; the gift of prophecy; the discernment of spirits; the varieties of tongues and the interpretation of tongues.
So too you all have gifts from Christ the King. All you can do comes from the power of Christ the King living within you like an electric current. All gifts are given to you. All gifts are gratuitous.
Where do poets get their words, artists their colors, architects their shapes, sculptors their forms, doctors their healing power, mechanics their skill, computer programmers their organization if not from Christ the King?
In all you are able to do, all your power comes from Christ your King.
But no matter what gifts Christ the King gives you, you have to use your cooperative efforts to make these gifts effective in your lives and relationships just as a sprinter uses her legs to demonstrate her ability to win a race.
In the movie, Appearances, one of the characters says, God gives us the ingredients but not the recipe.
And someone else observed, God feeds the birds but he doesn’t throw the food into their nests.
When you pray, “Thy will be done” or “Thy kingdom come,” these are not pleas for something to happen but pleas for the grace and power so that you can make something happen.
As a true follower of Christ the King, you can never expect God to do it all. God never waves a magic wand and makes it all nice.
For example, if you are having difficulties in your marriage, you can pray for guidance. But then you need to examine the quality of your communication, the selflessness of your giving, the sensitivity of your understanding. Then you have to work on what is weak or lacking. There is where your cooperative efforts come into play.
Or, for example, if you’re a teenager, and you feel left out, unpopular, you can ask God to help you to be liked more. But then you must take stock of how you are interacting with your peers. Are you self-centered or disinterested in others? Then what you need to do is work on being more outgoing, more concerned for what is happening in the lives of others. These are your cooperative efforts.
Your cooperative efforts must be rooted, like a flower in a garden, in your beliefs.
The feast of Christ the King challenges you to do what you can do according to the beliefs that rule your heart and mind and according to the values that govern your every decision, according to the gifts and talents you have.
This is why you have to stop in meditative prayer and find out just what beliefs and values and talents you are living by.
Bernard Bush in his book, Belonging, says, “We are being driven by God’s inner activity and our cooperation toward the fullness destined for us in Christ.”
XXXSoon you will be contemplating Christ the King whose palace was a stable, whose throne was a manger, whose scepter was a stick of straw, whose retinue was dumb animals.
This is Christ your King who is commanding you to use all your God-given gifts and talents and abilities to give loving service to all those around you who are in need.
Speaking of talents, there’s a humorous story about an elderly man who showed up at the country club with a beautiful, young blonde on his arm.
His friends gathered around him after the beautiful blonde went off to the powder room. “Where did you get the trophy girlfriend?” one friend asked the elderly man.
“She’s not my girlfriend,” the elderly man answered, “she’s my wife.”
“Well,” another friend exclaimed, “what did you do to get her to marry you, tell her you were 50?”
“Nope,” the elderly man responded, “I told her I was 90.”
Ask Jesus, you King, to help you to use your cooperative efforts to make his dream for all of us come true.
THOUGHT: Always use your talents cooperatively.
To be genuine followers of Jesus, Christ our King, you have to recognize who and what you are. What your strengths and weaknesses are, what gifts and limitations you have.
For example, you may have the gift of intergenerational persuasion but be limited in your ability to organize. Obviously what you need to do, while you are enhancing your gift of persuasion, like a concert pianist practicing, is to develop your ability to organize.
St Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians enumerates with inspired mathematics the many and varied gifts received from the Holy Spirit. There is the expression of wisdom; the expression of knowledge; the gifts of healing; the gift of prophecy; the discernment of spirits; the varieties of tongues and the interpretation of tongues.
So too you all have gifts from Christ the King. All you can do comes from the power of Christ the King living within you like an electric current. All gifts are given to you. All gifts are gratuitous.
Where do poets get their words, artists their colors, architects their shapes, sculptors their forms, doctors their healing power, mechanics their skill, computer programmers their organization if not from Christ the King?
In all you are able to do, all your power comes from Christ your King.
But no matter what gifts Christ the King gives you, you have to use your cooperative efforts to make these gifts effective in your lives and relationships just as a sprinter uses her legs to demonstrate her ability to win a race.
In the movie, Appearances, one of the characters says, God gives us the ingredients but not the recipe.
And someone else observed, God feeds the birds but he doesn’t throw the food into their nests.
When you pray, “Thy will be done” or “Thy kingdom come,” these are not pleas for something to happen but pleas for the grace and power so that you can make something happen.
As a true follower of Christ the King, you can never expect God to do it all. God never waves a magic wand and makes it all nice.
For example, if you are having difficulties in your marriage, you can pray for guidance. But then you need to examine the quality of your communication, the selflessness of your giving, the sensitivity of your understanding. Then you have to work on what is weak or lacking. There is where your cooperative efforts come into play.
Or, for example, if you’re a teenager, and you feel left out, unpopular, you can ask God to help you to be liked more. But then you must take stock of how you are interacting with your peers. Are you self-centered or disinterested in others? Then what you need to do is work on being more outgoing, more concerned for what is happening in the lives of others. These are your cooperative efforts.
Your cooperative efforts must be rooted, like a flower in a garden, in your beliefs.
The feast of Christ the King challenges you to do what you can do according to the beliefs that rule your heart and mind and according to the values that govern your every decision, according to the gifts and talents you have.
This is why you have to stop in meditative prayer and find out just what beliefs and values and talents you are living by.
Bernard Bush in his book, Belonging, says, “We are being driven by God’s inner activity and our cooperation toward the fullness destined for us in Christ.”
XXXSoon you will be contemplating Christ the King whose palace was a stable, whose throne was a manger, whose scepter was a stick of straw, whose retinue was dumb animals.
This is Christ your King who is commanding you to use all your God-given gifts and talents and abilities to give loving service to all those around you who are in need.
Speaking of talents, there’s a humorous story about an elderly man who showed up at the country club with a beautiful, young blonde on his arm.
His friends gathered around him after the beautiful blonde went off to the powder room. “Where did you get the trophy girlfriend?” one friend asked the elderly man.
“She’s not my girlfriend,” the elderly man answered, “she’s my wife.”
“Well,” another friend exclaimed, “what did you do to get her to marry you, tell her you were 50?”
“Nope,” the elderly man responded, “I told her I was 90.”
Ask Jesus, you King, to help you to use your cooperative efforts to make his dream for all of us come true.
THOUGHT: Always use your talents cooperatively.
posted by The Ronald | 6:18 PM
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