Kneeling

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

Ephesians 3:14,15

I don’t know about you, but I grew up kneeling in church. There were times that we got down on our knees to pray, to ask forgiveness, to show humility. I never thought of it as an abuse of power or anything like that.

Paul makes a wild claim here. He says that he’s kneeling before the Father. He’s more than willing to humble himself before God. Paul’s God wasn’t some local, small-time god, one that’s just ruler over some corner of the universe.

No. Paul is presently and actively bowing before the God of the universe. The creator, sustainer, the one who holds it all together.

And He Himself existed and is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. [His is the controlling, cohesive force of the universe.]

Colossians 1:17 Amplified

In addition to creating, controlling, and holding everything together, he personally is the designer and power that holds all the atoms together. Gravity wasn’t just an accident from some explosion. He’s personally holding us to the ground, holding the planets and stars in their orbits.

And if that weren’t great enough, God has named all the families in the universe. He’s the source for naming every family. All the different races, tribes, families are from him.

Think about that for a minute. Your ethnic heritage, your race, your people are not a mistake. You were placed there by God for a purpose. For his glory. For the good of people.

Personally speaking, that means that my Polish and Italian heritage was not a mistake. It wasn’t some cruel joke to have me endure all the dumb Polack jokes growing up. No, he gave my heritage for a reason. And he did the same for you.

No one, and I mean no one, has the right to make fun of someone’s ethnic background. Black, White, Asian, Native, American, you name it. Those people were made by God. God chose their heritage. And to treat them with disrespect, to deny them a job, not allow them access to a place of business, to insult them, is to do that to God himself. It is to spit in God’s face.

Paul looks at the great diversity of creation as expressed in all the families that God created, and he falls on his knees before God. That should be our response to seeing all sorts of people in our churches, in our towns, in our communities. Now that’s inclusion!

And when Paul kneels towards God, God does an amazing thing. God faces Paul right back. Worship is never towards God’s back. Or his side. But Paul has all of God’s attention when he’s on his knees.

The same is true for you and me. When we kneel in prayer to God, we are facing him. He is the God who receives our face. He’s not ashamed to fully receive us. He’s the God who sees us. He’s the God who listens to us.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but kneeling really works for me. Even now, when I want to do business with God, I get down on my knees. Just before I get in front of people to talk, I kneel to pray. Every Sunday in my classroom, I kneel and pray when the room is empty. Before I preach, I’m off in a corner somewhere, kneeling and praying.

And then there are those times when God wants to do business with me. In my heart I know that he’s calling me to be with him in a special way. When this happens, I kneel in worship, wanting to listen to all God wants to say.

We know all the reasons that we avoid kneeling before God. They’re logical. But they’re still wrong.

I’m all for technology to make our lives easier. I’m always on the prowl for hardware, software, and communication to help us in our daily lives. But there is nothing that can or will replace kneeling before God. That intimate, face-to-face time with our creator makes all the difference in the world.

Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

If you’re looking to live a fueled life. A fulfilled life. To be content in this life. The only solution is to go back to the drawing board, to the beginning, and let ourselves be filled with God. There’s never a time when he’s limiting himself from filling us with himself.

When we kneel before God, we’re saying that we are ready to be ruled by God. And that’s a good place to be.

Noodling Questions

• What’s stopping you from kneeling before God?

• How does God want to fuel you with himself?

• How desperate are you to seek God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength?