One of my favourite movies of all time is Princess Diaries based on Meg Cabot's novel of the same name. The film stars Anne Hathaway as Mia Thermopolis, a teenager who discovers that she is the heir to the throne of the fictional Kingdom of Genovia, ruled by her grandmother Queen Dowager Clarisse Renaldi, who is portrayed by Julie Andrews.
It is a story of an ordinary girl who is told that she is a princess. At one point Queen Clarisse tells Mia that she is royal by marriage but Mia is royal by blood. The queen takes on the herculean task of making a modern girl into a proper princess. There are manners to be learned, skills to be achieved and a complete makeover to be pulled off in just a short period of time.
Few people in the real world find themselves in the same situation as Mia Thermopolis, however some do. Queen Mary was a ‘commoner’ who had to learn to be a princess, as well as Princess Diana, Princess Sarah and now Princess Kate. Each grew up being just a regular person until their lives changed and headed in a different direction: they became princesses.
But there is a kingdom which is more important than any other kingdom on earth either present or in the past or in the future to come. That is the kingdom of God. When we leave our common existence and give our life over to God, we become joint heirs with Jesus. We are now royalty. Our Father is the King of Kings. The King over all kings and we are His daughters.
Being a daughter of the King of Kings doesn’t require us to know what fork to use for what dinner course, nor does it mean we have to have perfect posture or even gracious manners. But there are princess lessons we all have to perfect. When we become a daughter of the King, people should know what family we have been born into by the way we conduct ourselves.
John 13:35 tells us ‘by this all men will know you are my disciples by the love you have for one another’. God Himself tells us what our identification will be: our love for each other. But we live in a world which doesn’t know what true love is. Often passion and lust are confused with love. Sometimes warm fuzzy feelings or attraction is thought to be love. But if a princess is to be known or identified by her love let’s look at the ‘love’ chapter with new eyes. This will be our princess lesson:
1 Corinthians 13
4 A princess is patient, a princess is kind. She does not envy, she does not boast, a princess is never proud.
5 A princess is not rude, she is not self-seeking, she is not easily angered, she keeps no record of wrongs.
6 A princess does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 A princess always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 A princess strives to never fail.
11When I was a commoner, I spoke like a commoner, I thought like a commoner, I reasoned like an unsaved commoner. But when I became a princess, I put common ways behind me.
This is the key to our princess lesson: when we become a child of the King of Kings we shouldn’t act like everyone else around us. We should be different. We should stand out from the crowd because we represent our Father. We should be a reflection of Him for all the world to see.
It was recently reported in the media that Queen Elizabeth was disappointed in the way Princess Kate posed for a picture. Another article expressed shock over the fact that she used her salad fork to eat her Yorkshire pudding. Aren’t you glad that you aren’t under that kind of scrutiny? But rest assured the world is watching to see if you are a real princess. They may not be looking to see what fork you use but they will watch to see if the love you portray is the real thing. If what they see is genuine they will want to become a princess of the King of Kings too and they can. Unlike the world we live in where only a handful of commoners can become royalty, in God’s world there is no limit. God says that ‘whosoever will’ may come to Him and become part of His family.
You may have grown up not feeling very special but God says you are. You are a princess of the King of Kings. You are royal not by marriage but by blood: the blood of Jesus Christ which was shed for you so you could become part of the family of God.
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