Goodbye Rights, Hello Happiness

Have you ever noticed how we (human beings) get caught up in our "rights"?  It's all around us, every day.  As a nation, we have the Constitution which guides us (or is supposed to anyway) in our rights as citizens.  But that's not exactly what I'm talking about today.

What I am talking about is our personal rights in relationship to others.  For instance, suppose you have been hurt by a friend.  You may think you have a legitimate right to be angry and upset.  You may even go as far as thinking that you have the right to hold that over them for a long time.  

Or take marriage for example.  Marriage is sometimes difficult because we focus on our right to be in a perpetually happy relationship.  Sometimes needs aren't met.  Sometimes one person feels that they give and give and give without anything in return.  Or maybe there has even been a betrayal of trust.  I don't think it's a stretch to say that most marriages end because of the "right" to be happy, which one or both people feel is impossible to achieve in that relationship.

But did you know that the Bible says we don't really have our own rights?  We are either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness.  Furthermore, when we give our lives to God, we give up any rights we think we had anyway.  We become His bondservants.  

Consider Romans 6:17-18, But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.  

Doesn't that mean, then, that all of these "rights" we think we've had become null and void?  To be a bondservant of Christ means that we forfeit our rights in order to obey His commandments.  For example, Christ clearly commands us to forgive, forgive, forgive.  Therefore, to live under Christ means that we have no right to hold a grudge against anyone, be it friend, relative, stranger or spouse.  After all, we've been forgiven, too, right?  I'm not saying that it's easy or that it doesn't take time, but it's what we are called to do as Christians.

Our culture is so saturated with lies about rights for this and that.  There are people claiming rights for everything it seems, so it's easy for that mindset to creep into the hearts of believers.  But we must remain strong and never forget that to be in Christ, to live abundantly and to love God means that we live only according to His commandments and not what we think we have the right to do or say.  

I could go on and on about this, but the last thing I'll say today is that from our selfish, human perspective, yielding our rights is arduous and painstaking.  But the Bible is clear that to be a slave to God is actually to be free, giving us the right to ultimate peace.  Romans 6:22-23, But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We serve a GOOD God, so to surrender our rights to Him is to bring ultimate joy and contentment to our own lives--while on earth and for eternity.