It is difficult to live like Jesus in difficult times. It is easy to live like Jesus when everything is great.
Living like Jesus is not just for the good times, but also for the bad times. We give praise for the blessing during the prosperous time. Do we give praise for seemingly little blessing in the valley of the shadow of death?
Just a thought, which is actually more of a question, as Christians, why do we approach the world as privileged citizens instead of as humble servants?
At seminary we talked a lot about privilege, but I never heard it discussed or thought of it the way I see it today. Maybe I was not paying attention during that discussion!!! We would look at it from cultural and economic perspectives and discuss privilege from human worldly labels and I never remember looking at it from the attitude of being Christian and not being Christian regardless of race, economic status or any other human label. Putting all of the earthly labels and viewpoints of privilege aside, I am approaching this post today writing about privilege from an inaccurate sense of what we gain as becoming Christian compared to what we surrender as Christian.
Think with me for a moment, please, Romans 6:18 tells us we are free from sin and are slaves to righteousness. So when we become committed followers of Jesus Christ I am supposed to become a "slave?" We focus on what we get in our salvation because we are selfishly wired to get something and we tend to forget that salvation is also, frankly, mostly about what we surrender. So in difficult times perhaps Christians living in the privilege of what we get we forget to live in the complete surrender of what we have and in who we are as redeemed righteous followers of Jesus Christ.
I realize there is such great blessing connecting our hearts and souls to the amazing love of God. But there is greater blessing when we really are able to give it all up no matter what and fully depend on God. What if all our earthly possessions and security are gone? What do we have? We better have the gift of salvation in God. Yes but, PB, it could be pretty bad without. Yes it would be, but I hear worldly privileged Christians say all the time that they would be willing to give it all up for the Lord. Instead of being willing, how about we do give it all up for the Lord by not living in the security of what we have but in who we are in Jesus Christ? If we give it up we have nothing to lose.
I am not asking all Christians to not have, not gain or earn and not to enjoy all that we have been afforded. We do not all need to take on vows of poverty and live secluded lives. It is alright to have nice things and enjoy them. I am not saying we should give up any privilege of being a child of God. But I think we should ponder a false sense of security of what we can personally gain which in turn can be easily lost. By accepting the privilege of grace, have I become a slave to the Savior forsaking everything else?
So the challenge for me today is as a holy privileged child of God redeemed by the gifts of salvation, of confession, grace and forgiveness, may I live like the Jesus Christ I proclaim as King of Kings and Lord of Lords in my life. Remembering that my privilege of salvation in Christ looks different than the salvation of this world.
May we truly believe in and live like the Jesus we proclaim!
Honestly, I hope you are uncomfortable with this post! I certainly am, but my friend, what a return on our authentic investment in surrender!
Peace,
PB
Living like Jesus is not just for the good times, but also for the bad times. We give praise for the blessing during the prosperous time. Do we give praise for seemingly little blessing in the valley of the shadow of death?
Just a thought, which is actually more of a question, as Christians, why do we approach the world as privileged citizens instead of as humble servants?
At seminary we talked a lot about privilege, but I never heard it discussed or thought of it the way I see it today. Maybe I was not paying attention during that discussion!!! We would look at it from cultural and economic perspectives and discuss privilege from human worldly labels and I never remember looking at it from the attitude of being Christian and not being Christian regardless of race, economic status or any other human label. Putting all of the earthly labels and viewpoints of privilege aside, I am approaching this post today writing about privilege from an inaccurate sense of what we gain as becoming Christian compared to what we surrender as Christian.
Think with me for a moment, please, Romans 6:18 tells us we are free from sin and are slaves to righteousness. So when we become committed followers of Jesus Christ I am supposed to become a "slave?" We focus on what we get in our salvation because we are selfishly wired to get something and we tend to forget that salvation is also, frankly, mostly about what we surrender. So in difficult times perhaps Christians living in the privilege of what we get we forget to live in the complete surrender of what we have and in who we are as redeemed righteous followers of Jesus Christ.
I realize there is such great blessing connecting our hearts and souls to the amazing love of God. But there is greater blessing when we really are able to give it all up no matter what and fully depend on God. What if all our earthly possessions and security are gone? What do we have? We better have the gift of salvation in God. Yes but, PB, it could be pretty bad without. Yes it would be, but I hear worldly privileged Christians say all the time that they would be willing to give it all up for the Lord. Instead of being willing, how about we do give it all up for the Lord by not living in the security of what we have but in who we are in Jesus Christ? If we give it up we have nothing to lose.
I am not asking all Christians to not have, not gain or earn and not to enjoy all that we have been afforded. We do not all need to take on vows of poverty and live secluded lives. It is alright to have nice things and enjoy them. I am not saying we should give up any privilege of being a child of God. But I think we should ponder a false sense of security of what we can personally gain which in turn can be easily lost. By accepting the privilege of grace, have I become a slave to the Savior forsaking everything else?
So the challenge for me today is as a holy privileged child of God redeemed by the gifts of salvation, of confession, grace and forgiveness, may I live like the Jesus Christ I proclaim as King of Kings and Lord of Lords in my life. Remembering that my privilege of salvation in Christ looks different than the salvation of this world.
May we truly believe in and live like the Jesus we proclaim!
“You who are servants, be good servants to your masters—not just to good masters, but also to bad ones. What counts is that you put up with it for God’s sake when you’re treated badly for no good reason. There’s no particular virtue in accepting punishment that you well deserve. But if you’re treated badly for good behavior and continue in spite of it to be a good servant, that is what counts with God.
This is the kind of life you’ve been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step.
He never did one thing wrong,
Not once said anything amiss.
They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing. You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you’re named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.” - 1 Peter 2:18-25 The Message
I honestly do not need to give up my human privilege. I need to surrender it to use for the glory of God as a slave to The Master! Surrendering my human privilege is not always pretty and comfortable, but is sure is rewarding forever following The proper Master!Honestly, I hope you are uncomfortable with this post! I certainly am, but my friend, what a return on our authentic investment in surrender!
Peace,
PB
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