One King, One Kingdom
A few years ago, I made the questionable decision to run a half marathon. Wanting to make it as easy as possible, I found the only race in the Pacific Northwest advertised as “entirely downhill.” It began on a cold mountain morning, with hundreds of us moving through the dark remains of an old train tunnel.
It didn’t take long to learn that races are not won by admiring the scenery. The gradual descent didn’t make things easier. The mountains were beautiful, but beauty doesn’t soothe burning muscles. The aches increased, the temperature climbed, and the “easy” race day quickly became one of the hottest days of the year.
Along the way, people gave up, sitting in the shade, deciding their legs simply wouldn’t move anymore. The combination of heat, pain, and distraction made my own feet feel heavier. The downhill course began to feel uphill. The joy of the run faded.
Only when I saw the sign for the final mile did I know: I would finish. I pushed through—not because I was winning anything, but because the prize was clear. My wife waited at the finish in an air-conditioned car, and at home the kids had set up a kiddie pool filled with cold mountain water. The thought of rest kept me moving. I crossed the line, collapsed into the car, and eventually sat in the kiddie pool with family, grateful to be done.
“And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds.” – Luke 23:41
I was unprepared for that race, and I suffered for it. My distractions and lack of training could easily have sidelined me, just as they did others. But I kept going because I knew the prize.
“being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.”
We prepare for difficult things because we want to avoid suffering. Life teaches us this at every stage: school, work, health. Just as I shouldn’t wait until I can’t walk to see a doctor, Paul urges the church in Colossae not to wait until they are spiritually limping to remember who Christ is.
Paul encourages and then warns them: don’t live a hybrid life shaped by the “talk of the day.” Don’t let cultural noise distort the truth.
“For by him all things were created… all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together… that in everything he might be preeminent.” – Colossians 1:16–18
Preeminent means “above all others, better than all others.” Paul knew Jeremiah’s prophecy (Jer. 23:1–6) of the coming righteous King from the line of David. He wants the Colossians to understand Christ as that King—the Lord of Righteousness—and to live in His righteousness rather than their own.
As a child, I often assumed I would never be “good enough” for God. The youngest of three I could easily be egged on to break a rule. Older and wiser, I still fall short. True righteousness isn’t something I can manufacture. Even when I think I’m doing well, pride sneaks in the back door.
The righteousness Jeremiah describes comes from the Hebrew tsedeq—“that which is right.” It is less about legal perfection and more about living the goodness of God’s character: humility, justice, mercy, sacrificial love. Christ embodies this fully. We don’t offer our own righteousness—we live from His.
Want to live rightly? Look at Christ. Look at the Beatitudes of Matthew 5. They expand on the call of Micah 6:8:
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
If we cannot attain perfection (and we can’t) then let us live according to the goodness of the One whose image we bear. Let us care for the poor, love our neighbors, welcome the immigrant, and practice sacrificial kindness. Let us lay down the fear that breeds hatred of those who are different. Let us reject the powers of this world that divide and disenfranchise. Christ tells us plainly: when we care for the least, we care for Him (Matt. 25).
So the question becomes: What are you willing to set aside for the sake of the least of these?
Who is your King?
A king of this world who calls you to protect yourself above all else?
Christ the King—the Lord of Righteousness— calls you to a life of humility, sacrifice, and love?
Christ is the King set aside comfort, power, and even life itself for the sake of others.
So let us set down the distractions.
Let us reject the false promises of earthly power.
Let us serve the least of these for the sake of Christ our King.
One King. One Kingdom.
Christ the Lord of Righteousness.