“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” Romans 8:22-25

When Napoleon Bonaparte was being crowned Emperor of France, he famously snatched the crown from the Pope and placed it on his own head. In one impudent gesture he broke with tradition and made the claim that God had not made him Emperor, but that he had made himself Emperor.

One of the fundamental questions we ask ourselves as human is, who gets to be King? From the earliest pages in Scripture, God vests humanity with incredible honor and responsibility. Every single thing on earth (with one exception) is for his enjoyment and nourishment. Every single creature is under his responsibility and care. God gave humanity freedom and latitude, but in restricting them from one thing, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, God asserted his rights as the Sovereign Lord. Our first ancestors decided they wouldn’t live under God’s authority. They sought the crown for themselves, and every generation of human has followed suit. We all want to be the Kings and Queens of our own lives.

This desire to rule our own lives shows itself in ways both big and small. When we ignore God’s Laws and intentionally go against God’s good design because we know better or because we don’t want to go against our society’s norms, we declare ourselves to be king. When we choose to be ignorant of God’s Word out of laziness, we declare ourselves king. When we give blind allegiance to nations, organizations, or parties over our allegiance to Christ and his kingdom, we declare ourselves king. Even in our religion we can subtly seek to dethrone God as the Sovereign Lord of our lives. The Corinthian church was guilty of finding their identity in even good and godly men instead of in Christ.

The chaos around us speaks to folly of seizing the crown and placing it on our own heads. Broken marriages, broken identities, broken society, and even a broken environment cry out against the injustice of our self-rule. A world of 8 billion gods and goddesses vying for individual supremacy is a scary world indeed. Romans 8:22 says that Creation itself is groaning under the strain of sin and longs for the restoration of all things.

As followers of King Jesus we long for the day when Christ will make all things new, when Christ’s rule and reign promised in his death, resurrection, and ascension, will find its culmination in his return. But until that day we wait in hope. We live and serve as we were intended to live, as ambassadors of the High King of Heaven, and spread the message of Christ’s victory over the tyrannical rule of sin and death.

So live subversively in this present world. Push back against the darkness by pursuing the light. Allow the Holy Spirit of God to sanctify and renew you day by day. Learn of his ways through his Word and live in gospel community with others who have also bowed their knee to the true King. We do not have the power to change everything at once, but we have been given the Power to be witnesses of the One who is making all things new.