Once Was a Slave but Now a Son: A Place at the Table

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. - Romans 8:14-17


So I just finished watching the movie Prince of Persia with a dear friend of mine. I enjoyed it, not just the movie but the time with my friend. Our friendship goes back a ways and I really think this movie was a good one to go see together. And as we were watching there was a certain part that stood out that really caught my attention. Now I'm not a guy that watches a movie to try to find the "spiritual implications" in it but I feel that there was a series of lines that spoke directly to the heart of Christianity.

In this series of lines between Dastan and Tamina (the male and female lead) Tamina (female princess) was following Dastan (one of the male princes of Persia) in the desert. They were both fleeing the city that Tamina was a princess over due to an overthrow by the Persias. Dastan by this time has been framed for the murder of his father. But previously in the movie there is some background laid.

Dastan was an orphan. Living on the streets. No father, no mother. He fought for his food and to survive. Yet one day in the marketplace to king saw Dastan act an courage. So the king adopted Dastan into the royal family.

So back to the series of lines between Dastan and Tamina. She is speaking to Dastan and makes a remark (to paraphrase) "You been told that from birth" which was in reference to his right to royalty. He began to example that "He wasn't born into royalty, he was an orphan, but the king adopted him therefore he loved his father."

This may have been a simple pass of lines between two roles. But this spoke clearly. That is the Gospel

I was a rebel, an outlaw, a slave, an enemy against the king. I had no right whatsoever to royalty and have nothing to place before the king. But out of his love He adopted me into His royal family where I am an heir. I don't sit outside waiting for the scraps to be thrown out, I actually sit at His table and feast with Him. That is the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Sitting with my friend, knowing the stuff she has walked through and knowing the junk I've been through I felt content to know that we both lived in the Kingdom of the True King. We didn't live as slaves to sin in the Kingdom of Darkness. But we were adopted as a son and daughter into His family. Not by anything we did, but all because He chose us to be part of His family.

I read this today too

An Analogy of God saving a sinner:
"You are a floating corpse, face down, dead in the water, drowned in your trespasses and sins. Suddenly, someone yanks you out of the water, throws you down on the floor of the boat and gives you mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, breathing new life into you." - Trevin Wax, Holy Subversion