I wear contacts.
This means that every night, before I go to bed, I have to take them out. Which means that I need access to the bathroom, where my contact solution and case are stored. Which means that if someone is currently in said room, I can’t go to bed until they are finished so that I can get in to take out my contacts. Which means that I get angry.
Why?
Because I have a Right––and that Right is being trampled. It is my Right to be able to go to bed the instant I want to; therefore if someone is inhibiting me from attaining my Right, I have every Right to be angry and frustrated with them.
I have many Rights like that. I have the Right to drive faster than the ten-miles-per-hour-under-the-speed-limit pace the wonderful individual in front of me is keeping. The Right to quiet when I’m trying to sleep. The Right to exclusive use of “my” chair in the classroom, or “my” space in the library. The Right to an easy, smooth life––free of complications.
The problem with many of these Rights is that they’re myths. I don’t really have them; I’ve just invented them inside my head.
Don’t we do that a lot? We take a desire for something and turn it into a Right. There are many ways our society does this today: As consumers, we have the Right to expect everything to be suited toward our exact tastes and convenience. As children, the Right to have parents provide everything wished for. As Americans…
…the Right to protection.
It seems you can’t breathe wrong on Facebook these days without starting a debate on gun control. I see so many guns pointed at me on my news feed, I have to resist the urge to reach for the sky: “Please don’t hurt me; you can have all my Farmville credits!” (Ok, maybe I stretched the truth a little bit). I had a friend facetiously post a picture of a watermelon to see if it could be used to start a gun control debate. (It was).
But what concerns me isn’t the debate. To be honest, I feel that if we’re going by the US Constitution, the Second Amendment sort of puts a stop to all debate.
What concerns me is who is doing the debating. It concerns me that the vast majority of people on my news feed involved in the debate are Christians. It concerns me to see people in my church posting pictures of guns or quoting the US Constitution as if it were the Bible itself. It concerns me to see a fellow Christian post a picture of a well-known, secular celebrity, applauding her for having weapons in her house and her willingness to use them on attackers.
Why the outcry against gun control? Why the backlash against the government placing stricter regulations on the ownership of weapons? Because it infringes upon and threatens our Rights. Our Right to protection–from the government; from other countries; from individuals who might harm us. Our Right to stay safe. Our Right not to be harmed.
Wait.
Aren’t Christian’s the ones who aren’t supposed to have any rights? Haven’t Christians given up their claim to this world, instead choosing to be pilgrims and sojourners in this land so that they might be citizens of a better kingdom?
“Which one of you having a slave tending sheep or plowing will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’?” Jesus asks in Luke 17. “Instead, will he not tell him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, get ready, and serve me while I eat and drink; later you can eat and drink’? Does he thank that slave because he did what was commanded? In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, ‘We are good-for-nothing slaves; we’ve only done our duty.’”
Slaves don’t have Rights. Christians are slaves––to God (Matthew 6:24; Luke 1:38; Acts 4:29; Romans 1:1; 6:16, 18, 21-22; 7:25; Galatians 1:10). Do we have that attitude when it comes to our Rights? Do we imitate Christ Jesus “who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage” (Philippians 2:6), and “who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed himself to Him that judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:23)?
In all our concern for our Rights, it seems we Christians have forgotten about a wonderful Privilege that is granted to us as servants of Jesus.
A Right is different than a Privilege.
A Right is expected. A Privilege takes us by surprise and delights us. A Right must be grasped and defended. A Privilege is given to us freely, for which we are grateful. Once a Privilege becomes taken for granted, expected, and seen as necessary, it ceases to be a Privilege.
Rather, it becomes a Right.
Privileges make us forget all about our Rights. A child who feels he has the Right to Mom’s undivided attention will forget all about fighting for his Right if his favorite uncle shows up and gives him the Privilege of taking him out for ice-cream.
So what is this wonderful Privilege we have been given? Does it surprise us, delight us?
Well, it should probably surprise us, but delight us I doubt.
It’s the Privilege of suffering.
“For it has been given to you on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him, having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I have.” – Philippians 1:29-30.
Once again, it seems, the way of Jesus proposed by the New Testament is so upside down and backward from our normal thinking. Yes, we know we may have to suffer, but are we to see that as a privilege? Really?
Yes. We are. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” – James 1:2-4. And again in Romans 5:3-5: “We also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
Jesus calls us to stop striving for our Rights. Rather, He gives us something greater on which to fix our attention. He calls us to let go of our Rights, to give them up. We were never made to protect our rights. That’s His job. And yet it seems so often we forget that.
When are we going to stop fighting for a man-made Right given to us by the Second Amendment and instead focus on the God-given privilege that comes to those who serve Him?
The Privilege of suffering for and believing in Christ.
Which gives us the true right to be called Children of God (Philippians 1:29, John 1:12).
This means that every night, before I go to bed, I have to take them out. Which means that I need access to the bathroom, where my contact solution and case are stored. Which means that if someone is currently in said room, I can’t go to bed until they are finished so that I can get in to take out my contacts. Which means that I get angry.
Why?
Because I have a Right––and that Right is being trampled. It is my Right to be able to go to bed the instant I want to; therefore if someone is inhibiting me from attaining my Right, I have every Right to be angry and frustrated with them.
I have many Rights like that. I have the Right to drive faster than the ten-miles-per-hour-under-the-speed-limit pace the wonderful individual in front of me is keeping. The Right to quiet when I’m trying to sleep. The Right to exclusive use of “my” chair in the classroom, or “my” space in the library. The Right to an easy, smooth life––free of complications.
The problem with many of these Rights is that they’re myths. I don’t really have them; I’ve just invented them inside my head.
Don’t we do that a lot? We take a desire for something and turn it into a Right. There are many ways our society does this today: As consumers, we have the Right to expect everything to be suited toward our exact tastes and convenience. As children, the Right to have parents provide everything wished for. As Americans…
…the Right to protection.
It seems you can’t breathe wrong on Facebook these days without starting a debate on gun control. I see so many guns pointed at me on my news feed, I have to resist the urge to reach for the sky: “Please don’t hurt me; you can have all my Farmville credits!” (Ok, maybe I stretched the truth a little bit). I had a friend facetiously post a picture of a watermelon to see if it could be used to start a gun control debate. (It was).
But what concerns me isn’t the debate. To be honest, I feel that if we’re going by the US Constitution, the Second Amendment sort of puts a stop to all debate.
What concerns me is who is doing the debating. It concerns me that the vast majority of people on my news feed involved in the debate are Christians. It concerns me to see people in my church posting pictures of guns or quoting the US Constitution as if it were the Bible itself. It concerns me to see a fellow Christian post a picture of a well-known, secular celebrity, applauding her for having weapons in her house and her willingness to use them on attackers.
Why the outcry against gun control? Why the backlash against the government placing stricter regulations on the ownership of weapons? Because it infringes upon and threatens our Rights. Our Right to protection–from the government; from other countries; from individuals who might harm us. Our Right to stay safe. Our Right not to be harmed.
Wait.
Aren’t Christian’s the ones who aren’t supposed to have any rights? Haven’t Christians given up their claim to this world, instead choosing to be pilgrims and sojourners in this land so that they might be citizens of a better kingdom?
“Which one of you having a slave tending sheep or plowing will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’?” Jesus asks in Luke 17. “Instead, will he not tell him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, get ready, and serve me while I eat and drink; later you can eat and drink’? Does he thank that slave because he did what was commanded? In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, ‘We are good-for-nothing slaves; we’ve only done our duty.’”
Slaves don’t have Rights. Christians are slaves––to God (Matthew 6:24; Luke 1:38; Acts 4:29; Romans 1:1; 6:16, 18, 21-22; 7:25; Galatians 1:10). Do we have that attitude when it comes to our Rights? Do we imitate Christ Jesus “who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage” (Philippians 2:6), and “who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed himself to Him that judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:23)?
In all our concern for our Rights, it seems we Christians have forgotten about a wonderful Privilege that is granted to us as servants of Jesus.
A Right is different than a Privilege.
A Right is expected. A Privilege takes us by surprise and delights us. A Right must be grasped and defended. A Privilege is given to us freely, for which we are grateful. Once a Privilege becomes taken for granted, expected, and seen as necessary, it ceases to be a Privilege.
Rather, it becomes a Right.
Privileges make us forget all about our Rights. A child who feels he has the Right to Mom’s undivided attention will forget all about fighting for his Right if his favorite uncle shows up and gives him the Privilege of taking him out for ice-cream.
So what is this wonderful Privilege we have been given? Does it surprise us, delight us?
Well, it should probably surprise us, but delight us I doubt.
It’s the Privilege of suffering.
“For it has been given to you on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him, having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I have.” – Philippians 1:29-30.
Once again, it seems, the way of Jesus proposed by the New Testament is so upside down and backward from our normal thinking. Yes, we know we may have to suffer, but are we to see that as a privilege? Really?
Yes. We are. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” – James 1:2-4. And again in Romans 5:3-5: “We also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
Jesus calls us to stop striving for our Rights. Rather, He gives us something greater on which to fix our attention. He calls us to let go of our Rights, to give them up. We were never made to protect our rights. That’s His job. And yet it seems so often we forget that.
When are we going to stop fighting for a man-made Right given to us by the Second Amendment and instead focus on the God-given privilege that comes to those who serve Him?
The Privilege of suffering for and believing in Christ.
Which gives us the true right to be called Children of God (Philippians 1:29, John 1:12).
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