The Heart of the King

By Grant Gaines

Without question, one of the greatest movies of all time (particularly if you are a guy) is Braveheart. Braveheart, of course, tells the true story of Scotland’s hero William Wallace as he courageously stood against the tyrannical power of England in the thirteenth century.

While I LOVE this movie, I believe the directors left out one of the greatest parts of this story. Do you mind if I tell you the rest of this true story?

During William Wallace’s lifetime he befriended a man named James Douglas who quickly became one of Wallace’s best friends as the two shared many of the same interests-most notably, an intense distain for the unjust way King Edward I of England was harassing Scotland. The two men fought side by side until Wallace was brutally executed and a man by the name of Robert the Bruce took the crown as the king of Scotland as well as the commanding general who led the Scottish troops against the British.

Because James Douglas did everything with excellence, Robert the Bruce quickly made Douglas his right hand man. And just as he did when he followed William Wallace, James Douglas stuck closer to Robert the Bruce’s side than an Under Armor t-shirt.

One day in 1329 after being critically wounded in combat, Robert the Bruce was lying on his deathbed with several friends (including James Douglas) surrounding his bed. In his dying breath, Robert the Bruce requested that his heart be removed from his body and carried into every subsequently battle the Scots would fight. James Douglas was the first to volunteer for this noble task.

So, with the king’s heart embalmed and placed into a small container which he carried around his neck, James Douglas led the Scottish troops into battle after battle against the mighty English army.

About a year after Robert the Bruce died, Douglas and his troops found themselves greatly outnumbered and outmatched as they were surrounded by the British. Determined not to go down without a fight, the Scots refused to surrender and fought their hearts out until all that remained for the Scots were James Douglas and two other soldiers.

Knowing that this was their last few moments on earth, Douglas pulled Robert the Bruce’s heart off his necklace and held it in his hand. Looking at his fellow Scotsmen, Douglas thrusted his fist in the air and cried at the top of his lungs, “FIGHT FOR THE HEART OF YOUR KING!”

The three men died that day but the story of their bravery spread across Scotland like the Bubonic plague and never again has Scotland lived in bondage to any nation.

In today’s day and age where we are surrounded by so much evil and darkness I have one charge for you today-“FIGHT FOR THE HEART OF YOUR KING!” The times may be tough and the work may be hard but with Jesus as our example let us “FIGHT FOR THE HEART OF OUR KING!” We may be outnumbered and overmatched by critics and naysayers but because Christ rose from the grave, let us “FIGHT FOR THE HEART OF OUR KING!”

Let us fight for family unity, for sexual purity, for the rights of the unborn, for racial equality, for governmental integrity, for military justice, for cultural humility, for a nation-wide repentance, for an awareness of our dependence upon God, for a hunger for the Word, and most importantly, let us fight for the love of Christ to sweep across our nation.

We, just like James Douglas and his two fellow soldiers, are in a battle. And just like those three men, we have two choices: look at the unfair circumstances and call it quits or fight for the heart of our King Jesus.

What decision will you make today?