“The
kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When
he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had
and bought it.” – Matthew 13:45-46
My
attitude needs to change. When I signed up for the world race, I
knew I was going to have to leave it all behind. And I was okay with
that. That’s exactly why I signed up — to find freedom from
everything but Jesus. In training for the race we were told
about how the first step in this whole process is abandonment.
Before the transformation and the awakening will come, we must leave the old ways behind. I thought I had done that once I hopped
that plane to Peru to begin the race. And yet here I am and the Lord
is showing the greatest struggle to leave behind is my “right.”
Its that feeling of entitlement we as
Americans can so easily have ingrained in us. The belief that we
have a right to certain things in life. And then when you encounter
the kingdom of God coming to earth and get forever changed by it, you
realize that such beliefs are false and need to be rid from us. With
being on the race, some of those rights have naturally been shed –
things like a warm shower and the comforts of home. But what about
the rights that are still carried into this trip?
A few days ago I had to make a decision
about whether to go to Macchu Picchu or not. I wanted to go so
badly. And yet I had no peace about the decision. I was sitting
with the Lord one morning and asked Him what I should do. And He
spoke. He said I felt like I had a right to go see Macchu Picchu and
that in His kingdom we have no rights. Shouldn’t I deserve to see
one of the great wonders of the world? In God’s kingdom, no. And
then He asked me to give it up.
Then last night I was watching the
super bowl with my team at a local restaurant. There were times that
the TV would blank out in the middle of plays and we would all hold
our breath praying it would come back on quickly. My friend Andi
turned around to me and said, “another thing we don’t have a right
to – a working tv.” They are small examples that show the
greater attitude within me – I’m still holding on my own
entitlement to certain things.
The greatest example of one who lived
having yielded all rights is Jesus, “who, being in very nature
God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but
made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made
in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he
humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a
cross!” (Phil 4:6-8) To follow in the footsteps of Jesus means
to seek freedom from such a belief that we “deserve” anything or
carry any rights apart from Him.
When
we choose the kingdom of God, we relinquish all rights to things of
this world. I no longer have a right to fairness, to acknowledgment, to safety. Entering God’s kingdom means we have
learned we are worthy of nothing and He of everything. And
that through His unfathomable-grace-to-our-human-minds He has chosen
us to take part in His inheritance. It’s not out of anything we’ve
done or ever will do. It’s out of everything He did and will do. And the most beautiful part of all is that being clothed in that inheritance means I have become a co-heir with
Christ and await glories and riches to come through the eternal
kingdom that will be. I get to trade my earthly, temporary entitlements for “an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”
And so what does the abandonment phase
entail? Sure it’s already begun with having left my family and
friends, my comforts and my warm water. But there is so much more
deeply rooted that must be abandoned. My attitude needs a huge
transformation starting with this. Now having been accepted and
chosen into the kingdom of God, I must claim no rights of my own.
More on the relinquishing of my “right”
to come…
