Living On My Knees

Living on My Knees

I studied his T-shirt for nearly three hours. An orange security alert put me in the airport well ahead of my scheduled departure, leaving plenty of time for people watching at the gate. Across from me sat a stocky, middle-aged man with one silver earring. He wore a black T-shirt that boldly proclaimed “I’d rather die standing than live on my knees.”

I got the drift. His was a rough-and-ready credo—one that bespoke toughness and a fierce attitude. But the more I looked at it, the more it struck me as absurd. First (all modifiers aside) this fellow was saying he preferred death to life. To die standing, in this fellow’s book at least, was a noble death. (And one much preferred to a life of meekness or servitude.)

But what’s so awful about living on your knees? In the time I had to wait and ponder his emblazoned proclamation, I became more and more certain that a life spent on my knees was actually a great deal better than one spent standing in defiance. Then I thought for a longer time about what it would look like to live “on my knees.”

If I lived on my knees, it would be impossible to look down upon others. If I lived on my knees, humility would come more naturally. From knee level, I could easily consider others more important than myself and serve them better than I might when standing tall. If I lived on my knees, I might be more ready to pray.

One day, the bold dude in the T-shirt will hit his knees. And I and the rest of earth’s sons and daughters will join him. Regardless of how he lives or dies, this man will eventually find himself in a kneeling position before the King of all kings. It will be a far, far better day for him if he has practiced that posture in advance.

If I wore my heart on my T-shirt sleeve, I think it would read, “I’d rather live on my knees than die standing.” And I would. Wouldn’t you?

God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.

Philippians 2:9-10