I Rule
A housefly. So tiny and yet, at that moment, it wielded so much power, at least enough to make our five-year-old scream at the top of her lungs. She did not have to tell me what was going on, I already knew. I guess it is that mother's intuition that can distinguish between a “bug” curdling scream and an actual cry for help. This was not the latter, this was, ridiculousness. I could not help though, but to feel responsible. I can remember a time when bugs did not bother her and I can picture the exact moment that this changed. She heard me scream in response to a bug and ever since then, she has done the same. Now, to be fair, this particular bug was big and scary and gross looking and, it was on me! That is totally different than screaming because of a housefly, but I digress.
Nevertheless, I felt bad for teaching her how to fear bugs, but at this moment I felt annoyed, not by my child but by the fact that she was running around screaming like there was a catastrophe. “Enough!” I said. Enough is my signature word that lets her know I am done with her shenanigans. “Enough! What are you going to do, run from bugs your whole life? Don't you know that you rule that bug? Yeah, that's right, you rule! God has given us dominion over everything on this earth, even, especially, creepy crawly things. Now, you go in there and act like you rule! Say it, I rule!” “I rule,” she mumbled. “Look at me and say it again, this time like you mean it!” “I rule!” she shouted with authority. “That's my girl. Now get outta here.” Good work mama, I thought, patting myself on the back, good work. Five minutes later she came back running and screaming, same housefly.
It is true, I rule, you rule, we all rule, at least we are supposed to. It was always in God's plan for mankind to rule the earth (Gen.1:26-28, Ps.8:6-8, Heb. 2:8). We know Adam and Eve screwed up, not that we would not have done the same thing, and now we have a fallen world, one where things are not as they should be. Still, God always intended for us to have dominion over everything around, in fact, that is why everything in this world is so sensitive to mankind. Think about it, we have the ability to affect every single thing about our world. Hmm, when you think of it like that, maybe we need to be a little more careful about the way we act, the way we live, the way we rule.
What does it mean to have dominion? I guess it depends on who you ask. If you ask Merriam Webster, you would get something like, “power or right of governing and controlling; sovereign authority, rule, control, domination.” You do not really have to ask your average everyday person what they think, you can just look around the culture and see how people define their ability to rule. We rule with an iron fist, we divide and conquer in order to gain and maintain power, we usurp the authority of others in order to gain it for ourselves. We campaign for our right to rule, we teach our boys to be superior to girls, we teach our girls to try to be like boys, it is a constant power struggle between the sexes, the ages, the classes to prove who is bigger and stronger. We flex our power and use it to crush the opposition or actually just anyone who gets in our way. We put others down if that means we get elevated. We brag about our ability to make it in this dog-eat-dog world. We respect the ruthless, competitive, vicious, brutal, cruel, aggressive, merciless and cutthroat. This does not exactly sound like the dominion God had in mind. It begs the question, if we all rule, why does it have to be this way?
It does not have to be this way. Though something has gone incredibly wrong, though the dark, spiritual powers in this world have convinced mankind that the way to rule is to destroy one’s enemies and to kill those who present a threat, there is still hope. There is hope in God’s plan to rescue and restore this world through Jesus Christ (Heb. 2:14-15). Jesus Christ, entered this fallen world to vanquish, annihilate, defeat and destroy the power of the enemy and He did so by taking on the consequence of our sin and dying for us on the cross. Jesus Christ ruled, not by beating down or killing His enemies, but by loving them.
We are human. We rule. But how do we rule? Do we rule like the fallen world has taught us to rule or do we rule like God originally created us to rule? Do we rule like the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, Who came to earth and showed His dominion by being servant to all? Jesus rules! He defeated His enemies by laying His life down for them, how do you rule?
