The Tyranny of Rioting vs the Rule of Dominion

Man has a built in instinct for survival and existance. That is why death is so fearful. It is the ultimate enemy of our survival instinct. But the instinct for survival is just the start. Unlike the animal kingdom man is more than a bag of instincts. Man has a desire to rule and conquer. This isn't a bad thing if we are to believe what the Psalmist says: God made man to have dominion over the works of His hands; God has put all things under mans feet (Psalm 8:6). According to the Psalmist this desire to be in charge, be in control comes directly from God! How does the Psalmist arrive at this conclusion? He reads in Genesis 1: 27-28 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.".

Man was created to rule, subdue, have dominion. But there is a context. This rule and dominion is not to be exercised as a whim of man. Such whims can be seen everywhere. For a child in the playground it takes the form of bullying. For a group of teenagers it takes the form of a gang. For a wider organised group it takes the form of mindless rioting. On a large scale it takes the form of national dictatorship and aggression such as we saw with Hitler and the Nazis. Yet all these things have one thing in common. They are a perversion of the God given mandate to rule - that perversion is called tyranny. From the school bully to Hitler this is tyranny albeit at different extremes.

There are always options. The bible says of Jesus "in Him all things hold together". The converse of that is true - outside of Jesus all things fall apart. In England at the moment there is a rash of rioting sweeping the country and people see this not as man having dominion but as the country falling apart. Such rioters need discipline and to be subdued by the force of righteous law. But they also need more than that. They need to see that their craving for dominion can only be truly fulfilling when they are in a relationship with Jesus. In Him all things hold together. In Him their lives will be transformed from the ugliness of tyranny to the liberty of godly dominion.

More on this in another post later!