Be Seated

Have you ever sat down to enjoy a symphony or a wedding at which you witnessed some truly socially awkward or rude behavior in someone else who was present? If that someone was in attendance with you, you feel irritated and very embarrassed to be associated with them. If that someone is merely a fellow, unknown occupant, you feel irritation alone. Why? Our culture has molded our thinking about what is decorous in certain situations. When those cultural norms are abandoned, we know that behavior fitting the occasion has also been abandoned. In our world these norms may or may not be rooted in right and wrong, so as an offended party you may need to just get over yourself. However, there is another, more sober event at which you may find yourself required to conform to a preset and immovable norm.

If you are a Christian, you were once, by nature, a child of wrath along with the rest of human-kind. When Christ reached out to you in the ravage of that wrath, breathing New Life into you, God "raised [you] up with Him and seated [you] in the heavenly places in Christ.*" Having been escorted to such a magnificent seat, you must be aware of the norm that dictates proper behavior in it. When you violate God's norm (in ignorance or rebellion) you become like that symphony goer who cannot keep quiet or that wedding attendee who is texting during the ceremony.

Culturally speaking, the norms can be a bit fuzzy, having a bit of a span of flexibility. The exercise of them is certainly subjective. It is not so with God's norms though. They do not ever change and can be perceived with objectivity. As a result, you must acclimate yourself to them and never, ever try to acclimate them to yourself. Arm yourself in and with The Rule Book so that you might not be found an embarrassment or an irritant when the Father says to you, "Be seated."

*Ephesians 2:6