It has been a long time coming since I have written here. Partially because of a lack of anything necessary to write and partially because of the magnitude of the things God has been doing in mine and Holly’s life which demanded from me more praying and less talking. If you happen to read this blog and have not heard what the Lord is doing in our lives, I encourage you to go here: http://becomingbostonians.blogspot.com
But on to this post…I have been amazed lately at things that I have heard happening in peoples lives, going on in our church, seen first hand, and even seen come out in my own life. I have been broken by my personal sin and broken by the sin that I see around me. This ultimately led me back to the thoughts that brought about the title of my blog “Ben Smith: a life without rights.”
OUR STRUGGLE
We live in a culture (the American culture) consumed by “our rights.” We have the right to free speach, the right to justice, etc…You name it and we have the right to it and we deserve it and are willing fight for those rights. We love to hold fast to our declaration of independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These all are true, we do have rights as people and as americans! However, the truth of what is means to follow Christ is this:
we are called to give up those rights (”deny ourselves”), crucify ourselves (”take up our cross”), and follow Him in the way that He loves and serves others (”the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”). - see Matt. 16:24; Luke 9:23, Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45
HOW FAR HAVE WE STRAYED FROM THIS CALLING?
Lately, I have witnessed in the life of others and my own life the desire to fight for our rights. I have even seen “scripture” used to justify this desire. We fight, we quarrel, we get angry, we sin, we disrupt fellowship in the body, and we defame the name of Christ all because “we have our right to…(you fill in the blank).” We hold to those rights more closely than we do the reality of the grace of God in the Gospel that was given to filthy undeserved sinners. We forgotten that we have been “bought with a price” ( 1 Cor. 6:20, 7:23) and our lives are not our own!
Why do we fight so much for our rights?! We have a Lord and Savior who has taken us as His and gave of the rights to His life for the sake of redeeming our souls!
side note: I encourage you to research the deep Greek meaning for the word redemption. It will bring your to your knees.
THE DIFFICULT CHALLENGE
One of the most difficult challenges in scripture (in my opinion) is the challenge Paul gives in Philippians 2:1-11. Paul calls for us to “in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (Phil. 2:3). He then goes on to say that we are to “look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Phil. 2:4). To this you may say, “well look, he says ‘not only to your own interest’ which tells me that it is ok to look for our own interest.” But as we read on we see that Paul address every objection to this manner of life (even this one) by pointing to the example of Christ. He says that “while He existed in the form of God (a.k.a. even though He was God), He did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped but made Himself nothing (some translations say “emptied Himself”)” (Phil. 2:6-7, commentary added is mine).
So, we see the example of Christ as the one who IS GOD and yet He ”emptied Himself” and did not fight for His equality with God. He gave of the rights He had (and rightfully so) to be honored and adored, to receive the glory that was His, and instead took on the form of a servant. Wow! Can we really fight for our rights when we see this example of pure humble sacrifice?
It is time for us all to learn how to live a “life without rights!” Stop fighting for your rights. Take the example of the psalmists, let God fight for you. He has redeemed you! He has bought you! He will seek justice! He will seek vengeance (Romans 12:19)! Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we need to lay the rights to our lives at the feet of Jesus. Then we will be free!
I am still learning. I am still failing and seeking repentance. Join me in this life…