When we eat at my favorite restaurant with our family we need a large table, and I find an open one and hold it. If someone asks for one of the chairs, I say, “That seat is taken” and they understand. If we want to honor a special person and save the seat at the head of the table, I might have to tell others at our table “That seat is taken” so take another one. JESUS told us to “render honor to whom honor is due” (Rom 13:7).
I thought of this example when our Pastor mentioned “People who have trouble with temptation haven’t surrendered their life to JESUS.” The seat of honor in my heart is like a throne of honor and authority. If I let someone come and take that throne, I lose control. If I let someone sit on that throne and give them the honor that goes with it, I have surrendered control of my life.
When Israel demanded a King, GOD clearly said “That seat is taken” but they did not agree and “the LORD said unto Samuel…they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them” (Samuel 8:1 KJV). Samuel warned the people of Israel that if they have a King, he will take your sons, daughters, fields, vineyards, olive yards, the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards. He will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. Nevertheless, the people refused to obey and said, we will have a king over us. GOD appointed Saul, who led them away from Him.
Sadly, that is the state of many “Christians” today! They want the blessings JESUS offers but reject Him as LORD and MASTER. His love and sacrifice for them draws them but they aren’t ready to love GOD with their all or their neighbor as themselves (Mat 22:37 and 39). When the HOLY SPIRIT draws them to JESUS they say, “That seat is taken” and think they control their life. What people don’t realize while rejecting JESUS, they choose the thief who “cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10) and the thief will soon have complete control. The only one that can remove him is the very GOD they rejected.
When you surrender your heart to JESUS, He will do as much as you surrender to Him. JESUS said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10 KJV) but that abundance is conditional. The abundant life is available “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7 KJV). The more time you surrender to JESUS, the more WORD you hide in your heart, and the more control you give Him, the more you can ask and the more He will do.
Why does it sound like after I get saved my life is all about JESUS? Because it is! Second to you getting saved, is sharing the love GOD has shown you with others, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16-17 KJV). If that is GOD’s priority, why would it not be yours? So, when the thief attacks and tries to take over your mind, tell him “That seat is taken” by JESUS!
Wayne Lance (2023) – That’s Good News to Share!