Jesus is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and the Son of God who created the sun, moon, stars, mountains, oceans, rivers, and all creatures. His crowning creation is mankind, who are made in His image. "For God so loved the world," put another way, is that because He loves us, He desires to have an intimate relationship with us. All men and women are created equal before the Lord, but He commanded Adam, and therefore all Mankind, to take dominion over the earth. We are commanded to live as custodians over the earth, plants, and animals.

Sin is a spiritual enslavement that separates us from the Father, our Creator. All men and women are born into the sin of Adam which separates us from fellowship with the Father. But the fact remains unchanged that we were created to have a relationship with Him.

The Bible tells us that all of us have fallen short of His Holiness and, in fact, apart from God are entirely incapable of living our lives free of sin. Further, the Bible states there is but a singular path available that re-establishes that relationship to the Father. Those sins keeping us captive and separating us from our Holy Creator can only be washed away by accepting Jesus as our Messiah.

Because we are created in His image and are custodians over His creation, those who have accepted Jesus become royalty. We are sons and daughters of the Sovereign Lord over all creation. In reality, do most Christians live as royalty? Do we even know what that really means? Sadly, for most Christians, the answer is ‘no.’ I read somewhere many years ago that the vast majority of Christians live as spiritual paupers. The Merriam-Webster's definition of a pauper is "a person destitute of means except such as are derived from charity."

A Christian pauper is a Believer who may have plenty of money—they are financially free—but they are spiritually destitute for whatever reason. They are freed from the captivity of sin and have been made new in Christ, but their lives do not bear the fruit of their freedom in Christ. They do not yet realize who they are in Jesus Christ and they do not walk in the power of royalty. They are still held captive by fear, anxiety, addictions, or various trials. They may be weary and burdened by circumstances beyond their control, or the captive Christian may simply be overwhelmed by life.

Another form of captivity is the Believer who lives their life spiritually standing still. Many Believers live their lives in a way that outwardly looks little different than their non-believing neighbors. The Bible is filled with verses encouraging us to walk a path of righteousness and seek the Lord who directs our path in the way we should go.