“Abdicating The Throne”

Abdicate is defined as “to leave the position of being a king or queen; to fail to do what is required by (a duty or responsibility); to relinquish (as sovereign power) formally.”

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abdicate

I recall one of my favorite movies, the 1988 hit Coming to America with Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, & James Earl Jones. In the movie, Prince Akeem Joffer (Eddie Murphy’s character) left his home in the fictional, rich African nation of Zamunda to come to the United States to find his wife. He proposes to Lisa, an intelligent daughter of a fast food franchise owner. She is intimidated by his immense wealth and status. He even offered to renounce or “abdicate his throne” to marry her. She initially refuses. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_to_America

Many of us live our lives feeling incomplete, unworthy, and somewhat lacking. Satan convinces us to “abdicate our thrones.”

Oftentimes, we “live beneath our privilege.” We do this by not truly realizing “who we are and who we belong to.”  This may be similar to an heir of the British Monarchy/Queen Elizabeth II being homeless & living in poverty and on the streets.

As children of God, He has declared us his heirs. The Bible says:

1 Peter 2:9 (NKJV): “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”

Hebrews 7:24 (NKJV): “But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NKJV): “19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Job 29:14 (AMP): “I put on righteousness, and it clothed me or clothed itself with me; my justice was like a robe and a turban or a diadem or a crown!”

A hymn written by Sylvia Rose titled  “Mansion, Robe & Crown” highlight this. A few of the lyrics are:

I’m gonna trade my earthly home for a better one, bright and fair;

Christ left to prepare a mansion for His children in the air;

I’ll join Him in that land where tears nor sorrows can be found;

And I’ll receive my mansion (mansion, robe), robe, and crown.

Chorus:

Mansion, robe, and a crown;

There love will always abound.

Let me Your throne surround;

And I'll receive my mansion, robe, and crown.

http://lyrics.astraweb.com/display/826/hymns..unknown..mansion_robe_and_crown.html

In some instances, we miss our inheritance by our disobedience, lack of faith and lack of trust in GOD. Since we are lax in keeping our promises, we assume God is too. However, the Bible states otherwise:

2 Corinthians 1:20 (NKJV): “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”

2 Peter 3:9 (NKJV): “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 

Let’s all focus on not “abdicating our thrones,” but in embracing our inheritance…