Yes, Your Majesty! (Christmas 2011)

You know, I really love Customer Service. What an amazing invention. I get a gift for Christmas, and it’s missing a piece. I go to Customer Service at the store that it was purchased from, without a receipt, and they smile, ask how they can help me, take my defective item and replace it. And they tell me to have a great day.

I get a gift for Christmas, and it’s ugly. What do I do? Take it to Customer Service. They smile, ask how they can help, take my ugly item and give me money back or a voucher to by anything I want at the same price from their store.

I mean, really. They are so nice. That is something you can find in the ‘Kingdom’ of America.

But in just a few weeks, I will have lived in the ‘Kingdom’ of Indonesia for nine years. And in this ‘Kingdom,’ there is no Customer Service. I buy something that’s the wrong size. I take it back to the store. There is a lady at the information counter text messaging her friends. I say, “Umm… excuse me.” A minute later she looks up from her phone. I proceed to explain my situation. She says I can send it to the manufacturer in Jakarta. I explain that I actually just want to exchange it for a different size. At that moment, an old lady comes up to the counter with handfuls of shopping bags. She squeezes in front of me and drops all the bags onto the counter and walks into the store. The lady behind the counter puts all the bags into safekeeping and sits down in her chair. I start trying to explain my situation again. Her phone rings. She waves her hand at me, turns her body a little to the side and begins giggling with her friend on the phone. That conversation is over.

And so I go home and stash my item in a special cabinet of many other ugly gifts and mis-buys, to be dealt with the next time I move. That could make a person go ballistic right there in the store. It could invoke an eruption of expletives and calling in of the managers. But the thing is, I live in Indonesia. And that’s how it’s done here. So I have two options. Either get used to it (and start buying more carefully in the future)… or go back to America. Then I could have all the Customer Service I want.

The stress and tension of overseas living comes when I decide that want to live in both ‘kingdoms’ at the same time. I pick rules A, B, and C that I like from one country, and rules D, E, and F that I like from another country. Then I try to live by those six rules in either of the countries. And every time I choose to do that, I know that something bad is going to happen. The reality is, there is no way that I alone am going to single-handedly get an entire country to follow my personal favorite multi-national rules. So I made this decision early in my time in Indonesia: As long as I am living in this ‘kingdom,’ I will abide by its rules. That is not easy, because I still know the rules from America. But typically it causes a lot less life tension for me to live fully wherever I am. And over time, I’ve found that I actually like to live by some of these rules that once caused me anxiety.

And this brings me to Christmas…

I don’t know a lot about the Magi, but clearly these men realized it was worth it to leave their old kingdom in search of something new. Somewhere between their backgrounds in astronomy and the prophecies of old, they were compelled to expend a great deal of energy and money to search out and bow down before a baby King. I wonder what those wise men were thinking they would find as they left the East to worship the newborn King of the Jews? More than likely, their only experience with kings was equated with royalty. And then to find the child living in a simple home with a simple family and a less-than stellar birth story… I imagine that all took a little bit of mindset readjustment.

And I think it does for all of us who make the decision to accept this radically different King and to choose to submit fully to the rules of His Kingdom. Maybe if we were teleported instantly from earth to Heaven upon acceptance, it would be a different story. I hardly think we’d be having internal struggles and temptations in comparing the kingdom of earth and the Kingdom of God. We’d never look back. But in keeping with the mysteries of this King, we get our lifetimes to live submitted to the rules of the Kingdom of God while living here on earth. It’s the heavenly Kingdom superimposed onto earth. And as such, we become strangers in the place we used to call home. (Hebrews 11:13-16, Philippians 3:20)

When I’m tempted to start asking God why it has to be like this, two things come to mind. The first is that Jesus did it too. And it was worse for Him, for sure. I mean, right now, we’ve gotten glimpses of the Kingdom for which we are waiting. But really, we have no idea what we’re in for. We’re in queue for entrance to a place we can’t even fathom. Jesus, on the other hand, had lived in the perfection of that place for eternity. But upon seeing the depravity and despair of His creation, He forsook perfect comfort and entered misery intentionally. His purpose: to establish His Kingdom and to bring a fragrance and a glimpse of our inheritance.

Humanity is still trying to unravel the depths of His coming and His Word. It is a daily struggle to take up our crosses and follow Him, living fully by the rules of the Kingdom while being bound to the confines of the temporal. And really, could two kingdoms be any more different?

The temporal kingdom says, “Become all you can be.” The eternal kingdom says, “Become nothing.”

The temporal calls out, “Fight for your rights! Get revenge!” The eternal says, “Turn the other cheek.”

The temporal says, “You want it, you got it!” The eternal says, “Invest in things that can’t be taken or destroyed.”

The temporal says, “Do what feels good.” The eternal says, “This path is narrow and uncomfortable, and you’ll be lucky if you have a pillow.”

And on and on the differences present themselves. But if we choose to live fully in His Kingdom, people are going to stop and watch.

Which leads me to my second thought about why we should live by Kingdom rules on earth.

In the last 48 hours, two of my students have written me about the difficulties of living with parents who aren’t yet in the Kingdom. My heart broke for them as they told me about their desires to see their parents follow Christ and how no number of verses or Bible stories would convince them. But we know, deep down, it’s not really just about what we say. At the end of the day, it’s about how we live our lives… how we respond in crisis… how we interact with the unlovable and impossible.  It is those times which leave the argumentative speechless. And it is in those times that the Holy Spirit moves and removes the veil.

A month ago, I watched another fellow citizen of the Kingdom stand firm for his eternal country. This was a former Korean student of mine who came back to speak to my current juniors and seniors a month ago. He graduated from the most prestigious university in South Korea, and he shared with us his story of going in as a freshman to learn that if you didn’t do whatever the seniors told you to do in the first week of hazing, you were sure to be an outcast. But his foundation was secure, and he never stopped living for the King. He told of how God blessed everything he put his hand to through his undergraduate career and how he was a leader and successful in all his pursuits. And he told of how he grew in patience and wisdom as he was rejected from the “worst” medical schools in Korea for two years in a row, only to be accepted by the top one in the nation on his third try. His testimony shone brightly in his sphere of influence as he persevered in living in the Kingdom of God.

And again, just yesterday, I saw the Kingdom shine on earth through my friend David. He’s been a fellow co-worker of mine for the last six years.  A month ago he went to Singapore to check out some acute chronic pain in his knee. The result: Stage 4 terminal cancer, metastasized throughout his body.  The news has rocked our school community and left many stunned and asking questions. I believe David and his wife and four children have plenty of their own. But in the midst of devastation, one thing is sure. David is a citizen of the Kingdom. He and his wife are exhibiting a response that is, quite frankly, unearthly. There just is no way for a hopeless human being to respond to this news with Hope and Peace. No way. Those responses come from something extraordinary and supernatural. They flow from hearts of those whose eyes are fixed on Jesus. As I translated for David and Kim at the hospital yesterday, my eyes welled up as I had to relay yet more bad news to them about the excruciating pain that he continues to experience in his knee. We had hoped the doctor might be able to provide a temporary reprieve from the pain. But there was nothing more that could be done. They exchanged knowing nods and gentle smiles, and but beyond that was again, an indescribable sense of peace. Their knees, no matter how painful, are bent to the One to whom their lives belong. And there is no question to anyone watching that they do not live for themselves. When they said, “My life is no longer mine but Yours,” they meant it.

There just is no denying the fruit of those who are citizens of the Kingdom. The way is hard, but there is joy that is unmistakable. My King Jesus says don’t look back. Don’t try to live by the “best” of both worlds. He says choose which Kingdom you are going to live in and then live fully there.

So again, today, I choose His Kingdom. In it is true Joy, Freedom, and Peace.

May this be your decision as well. And may our decisions be a testimony to all around us until the King calls us Home.

Blessings to you in this season that we remember and celebrate our King!

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~ by jen4him on December 23, 2011.