Needed A Savior First

Christine Wyrtzen Devotional: 

A SAVIOR OR A KING?
 
..And was declared to be the Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Romans 1:3-4

Jesus had always been God and He had always been powerful.  But when He came as a babe, flesh veiled that power.  It wasn't until the resurrection that the earth was reminded again of the power of the One who had lived for three decades and then died a criminal's death on a cross. Through the empty tomb, the 'Son of God in power' was again on full display.

What I have to remember is this; life in the flesh just veiled His power; it didn't erase it.  He held it in check, by choice, through His obedience to His Father's greater plan.  Jesus didn't come to earth to set up His kingdom; He came to take care of our sin problem.  We needed a Savior first, then a King.

The Jews who were being crushed under the Roman government were so wanting a King to deliver them from their oppressors that they couldn't appreciate the gift this Savior was giving them. Pain obscures my vision too.  What I often need the most is not what I think I need.  That which crushes my heart today can so fill my field of vision that deliverance from it is all that I pray for.  When God doesn't cooperate by removing my version of the 'Roman boot of oppression', I can easily become disillusioned, just like the people of Jesus' day.

One day, Jesus will set up His kingdom.  He won't wear a crown of thorns but a royal crown.  His robe won't be torn to pieces and sold as souvenirs.  The trail of His robe will fill the temple.  In the meantime, I must trust my Savior and King to give me what I need most, even when my own vision is obscured by my flesh.  When I'm frustrated, my eyes filled with the tears of misunderstanding, Jesus knows.  He experienced the limitations and temptations of the flesh and knows the difficult path of faith and trust inside these mortal bodies.

You are my Savior and my King.  I reaffirm my trust in the places where it is weak.  Amen