We spend so much of our lives seeking after things that will satisfy, or at least we think they will satisfy: affection, approval and acceptance. We want validation, we want affirmation, we want consolation. We often look for the wrong things in the wrong places.
When we see Christ for whom he really is. When we see him in all his beauty, in all his power, in all his holiness and righteousness we won’t want to look at the weak, frail, impotent things the world has to offer.
Occasionally history produces men deluded into believing they are great, even divine. Hitler, Napoleon and Mohammed are examples. More recently, Saddam Hussein thought he was worthy of worship but he was dragged out of a spider’s hole and executed. Osama bin Laden wanted to conquer the world for Islam but he was tracked down and shot like a common criminal.
It was said of Alexander the Great that he wanted to conquer the world and he nearly did before the age of 32. Legend says that when his army had conquered their last foe he sat down and wept because there were no others to conquer.
The bones of these men will turn to dust. Men live short, brief lives and then their candles are snuffed out. The great conquerors of the world fall one after another.
Nations are much like men. They have personalities and ambitions all their own. It seems the curtain is falling on our own country as our leaders fuss and bicker like juveniles while the country drifts toward bankruptcy. Imagine the greatness this country once experienced and now we are on the verge of cupping our hands and pleading for a handout from any country that can help us.
Our history books are full of great men and great empires fallen on the ash heap of ages past.
May I introduce you to a Ruler who will never know defeat? His empire will last forever. There is no enemy strong enough to destroy him. There is no mind wise enough to outsmart him. Jesus Christ is Supreme. He is supreme over all the men of the earth. He is supreme over all the angels and all the other mysterious creatures that inhabit the heavens. He is supreme over all nations and all governments. He determines the destiny of all men and he chooses who will rule and who will be victorious and who will go down in defeat.
Men have done their best to hide him away but behind the curtain there stands the sovereign conqueror of the ages. Every knee will bow to him. Every tongue will confess him to be the Son of the Living God. He lifts up the sun in the eastern sky every morning and he is the one who turns the lights out every night. He spins this earth like a top and he can stop it on a dime anytime he chooses.
Lance Armstrong is a great cyclist. He won the Tour de France seven years in a row. (1999-2005) Armstrong is an atheist. He said, “If there were a God…” I wouldn’t have gotten cancer had to have a radical surgery to save my life. The secular humanist says, “Bad things wouldn’t happen to good people if there was a god.” The Christian says, “I have no idea why God didn’t crush me with the hammer of his justice this day because of the thoughts I had and the words I spoke yesterday.” The truth is, we are deserving of not a single good thing that happens to us.
I pray that you would get just a glimpse of the supremacy of Christ today.
John Piper once said, “All the planets of your life—your sexuality and desires, your commitments and beliefs, your aspirations and dreams, your attitudes and convictions, your habits and disciplines, your solitude and relationships, your labor and leisure, your thinking and feeling—all the planets of your life are held in orbit by the greatness and gravity and blazing brightness of the supremacy of Jesus Christ at the center of your life. And if he ceases to be the bright, blazing, satisfying beauty at the center of your life, the planets will fly into confusion, and a hundred things will be out of control, and sooner or later they will crash into destruction…. Oh, that the almighty God would help us see and savor the supremacy of his Son. Give yourself to this. Study this. Cultivate this passion. Eat and drink and sleep this quest to know the supremacy of Christ.”
Earthly leaders will disappoint you. Political parties make promises they can’t keep. Take comfort in knowing that behind the leadership of men there is One who is sovereign. He is pure, he is powerful, he is wise and he is always governed by his own goodness. He will never lose a conflict. He will never make a bad decision. He will never lose control. He will never fail.
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