There was an interesting crew of merry friends that ran with the older Royal Reddings. This crew seemed to be the masters of finding something mischievous to do. If they weren't building forts to run to when they had performed non-chivalrous deeds, they were escaping from stupid near death “dares” or exploring abandoned dwellings to find long lost “treasure”. AND there was always an adventure to be had waiting for them in the Mysterious SA Repository Box.
Oh yes, the SA Box … Back in those days if people saw a bunch of kids scrambling in and out of one of those crazy flip-door, playhouse-like, repositories for used clothing... they would look the other way as if it was taboo to tattle on Royalty. It seemed like when possessions were given to Royalty in this fashion, the possessions were no longer thought of as being owned by the giver. And as for us, these abandoned magical garments were an open invitation to adventure, to find the perfect attire for our imagination escapades that would flow throughout our day.
Once inside this world of the SA Repository, strange colors and smells immediately challenged the senses. There we would find ourselves armed with a boutique full of amazing choices to fulfill our desires to “BE” fashioned in the image of our dreams. We could transform ourselves (with the help of this treasure house of wardrobes) to higher levels of peerage. Here is the kicker though, we all seemed to try to dress to impress The One, The Very Best … “Wait until my Dad sees me”. What did the Marquess of Redding say? “You heard him, wait until my Dad sees me!” We all wanted our Dad's to be proud of us, or at least get a good laugh because of us. Really!! We loved to see and hear Dad laugh.
Though this was an increasingly rebellious time in our lives, some of us still would not cross the line of disrespect for the sake of our own entertainment. Perhaps that was the salvation of our days ...at that time in our lives faith was small but the investment in the simple things that God commanded (Honor your Farther and Mother) became the foundation for our lives, and created openness when the mystery of His Will was made clearer. Though later in life paternal relationship disappointments would come, we still chose to honor and love... “It is what Dad and Mom would have wanted!”
We pause from a brief informational message from our sponser - "What God Wants!"
{God's Will in the old testament is defined by the Hebrew word “Ratsown” -which means pleasure, delight, favor, goodwill, acceptance, will , desire, self-will. Psalm 40:8 - “I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is written within my heart”.}
{God's Will in the New testament is defined by the Greek word “Thelema” , meaning “What one wishes” or “What one has determined shall be done” translated will, choice, inclination, desire, pleasure. Matthew 6:10 – “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven.”}
The movements in and out of those repositories for “cool” used clothing is a little like our lives in Christ. We search in and out of the faithful truths found within the Word of God. We find there an amazing boutique of holy adornment free for our choosing. And the blessing grows on us as the desire to please our Lord grows with every excursion. Do we truly lose anything in this life by following hard after God's heart and seeking what He wants? Do we miss something important out of life by desiring to do what pleases Him? When we get to the end of what “we want”, we find it is old. We can't even begin to get to the end of what “He wants” because His desire for us has no end, and He makes all things new. We are admonished to press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And as royal Sons and Daughters of the King we need to yield to His desire.
Come closely and peer over the outer court hedge and gaze longingly into the throne room as the King dubs His own (Taken from Ephesians 1:3-12). Listen as He moves the royal sword from shoulder to cheek, from cheek to shoulder:
I, Jesus, King of Heaven and Earth dub thee:
Blessed with all spiritual blessings,
Chosen before the foundation,
Preordained unto the adoption of children with full rights to the inheritance,
Accepted in the Beloved to be loved,
Redeemed by My blood, and Continually forgiven;
That you might be Holy, without blame, wise, prudently knowing and fully loving My will,
and unified before me in love;
According as I have chosen you,
According to My good desire,
According to My riches of Grace,
According to My good pleasure,
According to My purpose … to the praise of the glory of My Grace … and to the praise of My Glory, .. I DUB THEE CHILD OF THE KING … LIVE HERETO FOREVER.
O the riches bestowed on us because of His desire for us...bask in this repository.
Be ye Glad!
HLFA,
Jeff
Afterthought: For those who may think it too much of a stretch of the imagination to jump from childhood adventures that came forth from a Salvation Army Drop Box to the magnificent gift of Jesus' Grace bestowed on those who believe, I leave with an afterthought. My heart is daily breaking as I watch the joyless shallow existence of God's children who rarely exercise their imaginations to rise to Him in praise. We have left our imaginations in the repository of worldly sorrow and checked our dreams in at the break of every day. For those who have such a magnificent future, why are we so afraid to risk openly loving Jesus before a world so in need of seeing Heaven's Royalty vibrantly living? Why do we waste our days in silent guardianship of the truth, keeping it locked so deep within our existence that the world remains hopeless to us and because of us. “Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven”.