A Good Knight

Why does a knight serve his king? (I'm talking about the mythical medieval knight here.)

The reasons are plenty. A knight could serve his king because of the pay, the position it would put his children in, the fun parties, the celebrity status, the power over people associated with the position, family traditions, or a variety of other selfish reasons. There are many ways that a king can get knights to serve him. But none of them would really stick - well, maybe family tradition might. Another king could come along and offer more pay, offer higher societal positions for the knight's children, bigger parties, a higher seat at the table, or more power.

So what is a king to do if he wants a knight that is truly loyal?

He would have to offer a vision of the way he wants to shape the world that would cause the knight will put aside his dreams for higher pay, the societal status of his children, his enjoyment of the most grand parties, his celebrity status, his power over others, and even the traditions of his family. The knight, the kind a king would want, would put aside all his selfish ambitions to help the king bring about his plan for the world.

Does God want any less of us than a king wants of a good knight?

He offers us the opportunity to join with him in making our houses and our neighborhoods a better place. All he asks is that we buy into his vision of the world. We need to put on the breastplate of faith and love and wear the helmet of the hope of salvation (1 Thes 5:8). In the end, we need to put aside all of our selfish ambitions, surrender our hearts and desires to God, and begin to work on shaping the world into the world he planned for it to be. Anything else is just serving for the wrong reasons.

And God is different than a king. A king can be tricked by outward appearances, posturing, and traditions. God cannot. He can see straight into our hearts and see if it is really His.