"EGO" Edging God Out

Can anyone name a place in today’s world where will you find a King or Monarch and his Kingdom?  There are a total of 28 you can google them to get the list.   What images comes to mind when you hear the words a King and his Kingdom?    

Nov 25, 2012       2 Samuel 23: 1-7  John 18: 33-37

Herod knew all about kings and their kingdoms.  In fact he himself was a king, the king of Judea was his title.  When he asked Jesus if he is the king of the Jews, Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world.”  In other words Jesus was saying the Kingdom he reigns over is nothing like the worldly Kingdom Herod knows and understands.  “If it were” Jesus tells Herod, “my servants would have fought to the death to protect me from being arrested.”   The King and Kingdom Jesus makes claim to, is not ego centered.  Herod as with many of us in today’s modern world, cannot comprehend a King or a Kingdom void of EGO. When we look around at the leadership in our world today within our governments, our political systems in the west or the dictatorships and Kingdoms of the East we see EGO dominates their core.  This is one of the reasons the Dalai Lama is hated and feared in the East.  Jesus further confuses Herod as he goes on to explain his kingdom is not of this world but it is in this world but has come from another place.   The open  discussion we had earlier about what comes to mind when you hear the words king or kingdom displayed how ego centered we think of our leaders are, be they politicians in the western world or kings and dictators who rule in the eastern part of our world.   In other words Jesus is describing a Kingdom free from violence, war, material wealth, power and control over its people for personal gain.  Jesus’ kingdom is a kingdom ruled by the HEART not he head and abides within the will of his Father.   Same world but two different kings and kingdoms.  One who listens and responds to the voice of EGO {devil} and the other who listens and responds to the voice of truth {God}

Let us reflect for a moment upon one of the examples from the Old Testament, King David.  At first he is just a humble shepherd boy whom God has chosen to lead his people.  A humble fearless shepherd who is eager to slay the lion, one who would do no harm to his flock.  This humble shepherd boy would put his trust in the Almighty, then  face and defeat the giant Goliath.  He starts out listening to and following the voice of truth heard from a prophet and he obeys.  David's ego begins to feed on power as he becomes a King.  Something changes in him and he begins to build a set of circumstances that would bring havoc and kayos to him for the rest of his life.  His devilish ego would get the best of him in the end, as it brings him to covet another mans wife and he has him sent to his death. 
   

Eckhart Tolle in his book the “The Power of Now” describes ego as an entity that is part of our human nature that needs to feed in order to thrive and stay alive.  The interesting thing about ego is that it doesn’t care what it feeds on.  It could either be a positive or a negative feed, either way it is all the same to ego.  It has only one goal, to survival and that requires ego to feed on someone or something.  It cares not if the deed is good or bad, it just needs to feed to survive.       
                                    Eckhart and the Dalai Lama

I choose King David as the example here but you do not have to be a King to be plagued with the circumstances that your ego can develop.  At first glance, as the young shepherd boy we may not see the ego feeding in David’s life but as his story unfolds and the world creeps in we can see it beginning to take its dominant place in his reign.  This is a common thing in much of our lives as well, as we mature we often like to build ourselves up and we see it is a good thing to do now and again. We all do it, myself included but the question that comes to my mind is: does your ego help build self-esteem, respect I mean, for the true self or does it give us a false sense of self?    

I’m not sure how familiar you are with the story of Moses another great man of the bible.  In fact Moses is the most important prophet within Judaism.  Moses was considered a good but ordinary man whom God chose to free the Jews from slavery in Egypt and lead them to the Promised Land.  Yet even he at the very end of his journey because of his ego would not accompany the Jewish people into the Promised Land.  This task would be bestowed upon his brother Aaron.  Moses makes a very poor choice in the desert during the very last leg of the journey.  The people are dying of thrust.  Moses prays for deliverance.   After receiving instruction from God, Moses taps a might rock with his staff and water comes pouring out.  But his ego gets the best of him as he boasts “here is the water I give you.” 

We run great risks when we steal away Gods thunder folks.  Not because God will punish because reward or punishment come from our choices which in turn build the circumstances around our own lives.  One of the most common ways this happens is when our ego takes the full credit for our accomplishments or our ability to acquire the things needed to sustain our lives.  When we boast about the generosity or our works or our giving’s or when we think of ourselves as superior.  Ego helps us to forget the fact that life is a gift, a gift from the one who creates life.   Your ability to do anything is also a gift given to you by your heavenly parent, your creator.  Arrogance, egos brother is full of its own punishment and can bring with it circumstances that feed and create kayos, another relative of our devilish ego.   God, our creator with infinite Grace has given us tools to combat such kayos.  Accepting our mistakes, surrendering and turning from those things that bring pain and suffering into our lives brings with it a sense of relief and wholeness.  
Here are the two the most important tools of all.   Repentance and forgiveness of self.  They produce in us a sense of humility and are precious gems l in the tool box of right thinking and living.   These two tools, can open a pathway back to the place where we can start all over again.  Here, no one is lost, and as Jesus described to Nicodemus, we will be born anew, forgiven, and we can once again start over.    
                                                "Hide me In your Holiness"