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Every Knee Will Bow

             Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

So, why is Jesus the only way? Why will every knee should bow and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father? I suspect that sometimes, some of us think that it’s some sort of bad attitude on God’s part. He picked Jesus in a fit of pique, and now He’s going to stomp His feet and demand that we make a big deal about Jesus. But He could have just as easily picked Mohammed, or Buddha, or you. It’s really not fair to arbitrarily pick Jesus. The snide part of me wants to finish the complaint of these some with “Who does He think He is?”

And the answer is that He thinks He’s God, and that’s only a problem if He’s not. And if He is God, then the choices He makes are based on thinking that is so much higher, bigger, better, longer, deeper, etc. than ours. He has the right to make decisions and our right to question those decisions is limited.  We can ask who, what, when, where, why, or how, but our response to His answer (even no answer) is His to judge.

So, returning to the passage, I submit that God’s choice wasn’t arbitrary. God exalted Him to the highest place because He did what was needed to earn that place. He gave Him a name that is above every name because He earned it. Every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord not because God said, “DO IT!” but because Jesus did what was required to become Lord.  It’s not arbitrary. It’s not magical. It’s just logical. What makes no sense is claiming the founders of other religions compare or deserve respect as anything other than a human being.

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