The Rights and Privilege of an American!

I had a mental check-up in the past few days.  My resident attending physician is the Holy Spirit.  He checked my heart with, “Do you feel you deserve a continuation of the rights and privilege you have experienced as an American?”  I thought, “Um, no, but I sure would like them . . .” LOL! How would you have answered?

Rights and Privilege

As I’ve listened to and heard the rhythmic drumbeat of the dismantling of our nation, I have risen up to say, “Hey, wait there one minute!”  There is an objection I have that the realm of my established comfort is being disturbed. The world of my known reality is slowly being disrupted. Humans tend to like and return to where they are familiar . . . and my familiar is being shifted.

Yet the Spirit is setting me free from earthly familiarities. I have no right to expect the status quo in my country, in my state, in my city or in my life. Though all of my life America has been a free and prosperous nation, why do I feel the Lord has any compulsion to maintain this temporal stance? If today we are thrown into a crisis that shatters our world, God is still God!

Around the world are millions and millions who live in quite different circumstances. Why do I believe just because it’s always been this way, that thing should continue without hiccup?  Oh, this actually exposes me greatly. It is like looking into a viewfinder and thinking I am seeing the world. It’s a fixation on what is seen, and holding on to it as if it were the whole.

Tree or Wheat

In the past Martha mentioned the difference between trees and wheat. Jesus says we are to be wheat. Trees are rooted deep in the earth, but wheat sways in the wind and is easy to harvest. Trees stand for those who love and trust the world, but wheat is what I am required to be. My miniscule vision of reality always needs to adjust.  My present moment is just that – a present moment that can shift and change in a blink.

If I grip and grasp any earthly thing, it will eventually tear me when it is required of me. As a child of another Kingdom, I must live open-handed. My safe response is gratitude for the day I am enjoying without the entitlement of a privileged one.

Earthly Privilege

It says in Proverbs 8 that those who love and stand with Wisdom inherit wealth and are filled with treasures better than gold or silver. My earthly privilege is fleeting but my position in Him is of great value.

Proverbs 8 continues that Wisdom was before anything yet created and all those who listen and follow the ways of Wisdom will be truly joyful. Imagine true lasting JOY. If I want to live in lasting privilege, God states in Proverbs 8:35: “For whoever finds me [Wisdom] finds life and receives favor from the Lord.”  I don’t want to bank on and affix myself to such shifting sands as the USA or any earthly edifice. No, my hope lies in the One who marked off the earth’s foundation, and was architect at God’s side.

HAPPY 4th of JULY! I proclaim our declaration of dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ!