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Every Knee Will Bow


It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’” (Romans 14:11)
                I suspect that there are those who look forward to this not in order to bow their own knee or give their own acknowledgment, but in order to savor the humiliation of those who refused to bow the knee to them or to acknowledge what they wanted to hear. I’m not so sure that God is going to glare at them from the throne and say, “You…will…bow…the…knee…. You… will… acknowledge….ME,” through clenched teeth and use His almighty will to force them to their knees. I don’t think the exertion on His part will be needed.  I believe that even a congenial encounter with God will be enough to drive us to our knees. If our response to angels requires angels to say, "Fear not" encountering God is, I suspect, several orders of magnitude more impressive. Of course, I readily admit that His omnipotence would not require exertion. The merest whisper of a whim on God's part would be sufficient to force us to our knees, but my point stands. There are some people who very likely can’t wait to see God grind people into the gold pavement. 
                In the depiction of Satan before the throne of God at the beginning of Job, we don’t see that. Satan has access to heaven, and God treats him, it seems to me, pretty much as He treats the other angels. Satan disrespects God to His face, and God doesn’t smite him. True, the beginning of Job isn’t the last judgment, but I find it hard to believe that God is going to be polite until then, and suddenly transform into a being who watches with glee as people grovel and suffer.
                God commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to love our enemies and to do good to those who weren’t good to us. If loving someone is wanting what is in their best interest, there are times when loving might require requiring someone to bow the knee, but it’s not for our benefit. It's for theirs.

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