Born to be King

As I was lost in my daydreams today, I stumbled upon an old story I remembered hearing a while ago. I remember loving the message of this story, and so I thought that I would share it.

The King's Son

Sometime between the time of 1774 and 1793 A.D., King Louis XVI of France was taken from his throne and imprisoned. The captors of the King then kidnapped his son, the prince, and took him to a community far away from his father's kingdom. They knew that if they could destroy him morally, he would never realize the potential for greatness that he, as the King's son, contained. 

After arriving in the community with the prince, they immediately exposed him to all of the filthy and vile things of life. They exposed him to foods of richness that would make him a slave to appetite. They exposed him to all sorts of coarse language that they used constantly while around him. They exposed him to immoral and lusting women. They exposed him to dishonor and distrust. They exposed him to virtually everything that would drag a human soul as low as it could possibly slip. 

This continued for six months. 

Finally after intensive temptation one day, his captors questioned him. Why would he not give in to all of the things that they were offering him? To this, the young prince replied, "I cannot, for I was born to be King."

Ever since I have heard this story, I have been inspired. In this life, we too face intensive temptation. Some days perhaps more than others, but we have still been told that as the youth, we are being raised in enemy territory. One question to ask to yourself following this story is this: What would have been the outcome had I been in the prince's place? I honestly don't know what my answer would be, and that scares me. I am definitely glad that I was not in his place! But listening with our spiritual ears, this story holds true for every single person on the earth. We may not be in a position to inherit a kingdom here on earth, but without a doubt we have an opportunity to prove to ourselves and to God here in our lives if we are worthy to receive one.

Speaking of Kings, in the Book of Mormon as you may recall, one of the sons of Mosiah, Ammon, went to preach to the Lamanites. Upon entering their city, he was bound and taken before the king. As was the Lamanites' custom, any Nephite captured and brought to the Lamanite king was to be done with as the king so chose. When the king questioned Ammon as to what he was doing in their land, Ammon replied that he wanted to serve the king. The king was so pleased with this statement that he offered Ammon a wife from any of his daughters (wow!). Ammon refused, and said he just wanted to serve the king. And so, Ammon, himself being an heir to the Nephite throne, became a shepherd and watched the flocks with the king's other servants. (Alma 17: 20-25)

There are many lessons we can learn from this story, but the thing I caught from it this time was humility. Ammon as a prince obviously knew humility and service. How do you think this story could have been different had Ammon had answered the king's question with this instead, "I am here to preach the word of God  and repentance to you and your people." Of course, this was the truth! But Ammon knew that if he said that, he would most likely be cast out or killed. So instead, Ammon chose to be patient and wait for his chance to preach by serving the king.

Anyway, this post is getting pretty lengthy, and I don't want to be teaching a second Sunday School lesson today. I only wanted to share a story that I remembered whilst pondering. So go have a great day, and remember: 

Boys: You were born to be a King.

Girls: You were born to be a Queen.

Everyone: You are a child of God.