The late Zig Ziglar, a champion motivator, tells the story of how he met Jesus. His parents hired a poor woman to help his mother do housework and raise her children. This “nanny” would take the little boy aside and tell him about Jesus and his love. Little by little, the young Ziglar came to know Jesus and in time decided to make him the center of his life. His professional ministry was one of love and encouragement. In short, he brought his nanny’s love for Jesus to a marketplace that extended all over the world.
This Christian woman brought the “rule of Jesus” into the Ziglar household. She did not manage the finances, set house rules, or order people around; yet she ruled the house by bringing God’s love into the hearts of the children.
In the midst of political chaos in the world, we cry out to God to step in and rule. We see the shortcomings of capitalism, socialism, and atheistic Communism. Humans are unable to solve their governance problems. We need a savior, a ruler.
God, in his mercy, sent us such a savior to rule the world. As the Christmas story reminds us, Jesus did not take a position of power and wield a hammer of justice over the nations. He came as a humble servant of God’s love. When he entered Jerusalem as king, he rode a donkey. Though he had great power, he chose to rule by merciful love rather than by might.
We join the Church in praying Psalm 72 today (1-8).
“O God…endow the king with your justice…He shall govern your people with justice and your afflicted ones with judgment. The mountains shall yield peace for the people, and the hills justice. He shall defend the afflicted…save the children of the poor.”
God’s king brings justice and peace to the world, with a focus on defending the powerless.
“Justice shall flower in his days and profound peace…May he rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
All the earth craves peace and justice. God has provided a way. He has planted his only Son in the world to rule, not only Israel, but from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth. We, as Christians, know that Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace—he alone is the answer to our governance problems—in the world, yes, but also in our churches, our homes, and our personal lives. What we have a hard time understanding, however, is that he rules by love. He immerses us in God’s love until we start changing from the inside out. Then, we begin to let the divine love within us flow out into the situations where God as placed us. In doing so we extend the rule of Jesus Christ, little by little, to the entire world.
We may get discouraged when we see so few results from our acts of love and our prayers. Let us not forget that it was the love of a poor, simple woman that brought a person like Zig Ziglar to move across the world, extending hope to millions of people.
God puts people in our paths today. He wants to bring them under the Lordship of his Son by touching their hearts with his love. We are his instruments for doing this. How privileged we are to be part of God’s great plan to establish his rule on earth.
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” (Ps 118:26).
