What’s better than being a royal baby?
Born into a life of privilege, wealth, and power. What could possibly beat that?
People have been camped outside the hospital for days, awaiting the news about the new royal baby. They sit on the pavement eagerly anticipating the birth of what could be the next king or queen of Great Britain.
Normally when a baby is born, the parents have to text all their friends and family and post photos on facebook. Not this baby. News of the birth will spread like nits in a primary school.
Why we love royals
Whatever your views on the monarchy, we all tend to care a little bit about the royal family. Maybe it's because we wish we were royals too? Think about it...
- Little girls dress up like princesses, and have 'Daddy's little Princess' emblazoned in sequins on their clothes.
- Older girls dream of meeting a prince and being whisked off to a fairytale wedding and living in a palace (so I'm told...).
- People have pictures of royalty in their houses (my wife had a poster of Princess Diana on her bedroom wall as a teen).
- Boys battle each other with newspapers rolled up into pretend swords, while older boys are told by Hollywood that the pinnacle of high school experience is to become the 'prom king'.
We all tend to care about the royal family, and I think this is because in some way, we all want to be royalty.
Who can blame us! A life of privilege and possessions, castles and crowns. We know it would involve some responsibilities, and constantly being in the spotlight can't be easy, but we convince ourselves it wouldn't be that hard. Being royalty sounds pretty sweet; a bit of us wishes that people would sleep outside the hospital where we were born. We want to matter, for people to care about us, to be worth something, to be royalty.
The great news is that compared to the royal baby, we are way better off.
Even better than the royal thing
Being God's children is the greatest status that the Christian can claim, the apostle Paul highlights that in Romans 8:16. Then Paul goes on to say that because we are children, we are also heirs (Romans 8:17). Being an heir means that all the good stuff that the father has, gets given to his children.
So while the royal baby will get all the kingdoms, crowns, castles and land their parents have, we are better off because all the good stuff that God has in his kingdom is given to us, his children and heirs.
The royal baby has not deserved all they will receive, they have just won the lottery of life. Similarly, being an heir means we don't earn or deserve it, but we are better off because we are given it not through luck, but love.
The royal baby could, through a series of bad decisions, a war, a bad marriage or an act of parliament, lose all they have - their kingdom is conditional on various other things. But we are better off because our inheritance and kingdom is based on only one thing - our co-heir. Paul makes it clear in Romans 8 that we are heirs because the one true son was given for us.
We may not be worthy to be royalty, or live up to the responosiblities that well. But Jesus is the true king, whether we feel like it or not.
So when the baby gets born, celebrate, rejoice, and take a look at the photos of the future monarch. But do not envy them. We are way better off! Why? Because God gave his son, and so "will he not also...graciously give us all things." (Rom 8:32)
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