KNEELING – NEWSPAPER ARTICLE FOR 8/26/20
In the world of sports, there has been a considerable controversy over players kneeling instead of standing when the national anthem plays before the game begins. There have been strong feelings on both sides of the issue and many fans have stopped watching professional sports because of it. It is not the purpose of this article to resolve this issue, but rather to highlight the act of kneeling.
Kneeling has always been associated with the worship of God, and also unfortunately with the worship of idols. Closely related to kneeling is bowing our heads in prayer as an expression of humility before God. Kneeling is an expression of submission and obedience to God, and its practice comes from “Words from Above” in the Bible. Psalm 95:6, 7 tell us, “O come let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.”
Both bowing and kneeling had been practiced before human rulers and also false gods by the time that God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses. The second commandment said, “You shall not make for yourself images of anything, and you shall not bow down to them or worship them.” God did not allow any worship other than the worship of Himself, and the apostle John was reminded of this in Revelation 19:10. John fell at the feet of an angel who was explaining a vision to him, but the angel immediately told him not to do it, but to only worship God.
Unfortunately, many people today fail to bow down or to kneel before the Lord because they do not even worship the Lord at all. They do not believe, in many cases, that God even exists, and they certainly have no real intentions of kneeling before Him. In fact, there are many people and also many organizations in our world and in our nation who are seeking to totally eliminate God and anything associated with God from society.
The apostle Paul encourages a totally different approach and attitude in Philippians 2, where he writes about Jesus, the Son of God, humbling Himself and sacrificing His life on the Cross. He said that because Jesus did this, God “highly exalted Him, and gave Him a name above every other name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the father.” This will be a total and absolute recognition of Jesus as Lord of the universe, and kneeling will be an essential and important part of it.
Larry R. Steffee is pastor of the Center Hill Brethren In Christ Church on Miller Road in Smithville. Everyone is welcome to attend. For informa-tion, you may email lrsteffeetn@yahoo.com.
