All Things Under His Feet

For many years I have struggled with the idea that God is ‘in control’ as if He was playing some sort of game with humanity. “God did…God placed…God chose…” These are expressions of power, not love. God is in control, but He doesn’t play chess. God’s control is based on love.

Brethren, God has put all things under his son’s feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all. And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Ephesians 1:22-23;2:1-3

I’m not an avid chess player. I’m quite bad at the game, honestly. But I know you can’t win by showing mercy on your opponent. In any game, you win when you play to defeat your opponent. God wins when we win. God uses His control to bless us, not defeat us.

The world plays by different rules. Even the idea of ‘survival of the fittest’ is based upon defeating your opponent. “I don’t need to outrun the bear. I only need to outrun the other guy.” Victory for the world is the defeat of your opponent.

When Christ founded the Church, He established a way to remain among His people. The Church “is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all.” That Church must also play by the same rules with God. The Church wins when God wins, not when others are defeated.

In our spiritual life defeat means death. Christ conquered death, once and for all, so that we could live with Him. Our game, as it were, is to fill the world with God’s grace, not His wrath. Our strategy must be to lift others out of the darkness of the world and into the Light of Christ.

We can only accomplish that if we also live in the Light. “A city on a hill cannot be hid.” (Matthew 5.14) That brings me to today’s challenge. Being under His feet is not a place of defeat, but a place of Light. When we allow the Light of Christ to shine in our strategy, there is no defeat.

Stop seeing those outside the church as enemies of the Church that must be defeated. Start seeing them as those who need to have Light. The Church wins when they win. They win when the Light of Christ leads them, and us, out of darkness.

Bringing the world under God’s feet is not about defeat, but about Light. The devil’s strategy is to defeat us. Our strategy is to save the world. The rules are different. The rules are blessed. The rules are God’s Light.

There will always be those who refuse the Light. God already warned us about that, but it must never change our strategy. We honor their free will but never give up hoping they will follow the Light. That is how we fight for their victory instead of defeat. Hope wins every time!