Often I am struck by the words of a friend and mentor. "What do I have rights to?" he said. "What do I deserve? I deserve nothing, based on me, based on my goodness, or what I've done, or what I've earned -- nothing. It is only by God's grace that any of us have anything -- the breath of life this morning. By the mercy and grace of God I don't get what I deserve that is bad, and I get far more than what I deserve of what is good. It is all about giving up our 'rights'; I am entitled to nothing."
He spoke those words nearly a year ago, yet I think of them often and am ashamed to find within my own life that it is all too easy to forget their truth. I was reminded of them again as I read this morning in My Utmost for His Highest.
"Obstinacy and self-will will always stab Jesus Christ. It may hurt no one else, but it wounds His Spirit. Whenever we are obstinate and self-willed and set upon our own ambitions, we are hurting Jesus. Every time we stand on our rights and insist that this is what we intend to do, we are persecuting Jesus.... All I do ought to be founded on a perfect oneness with Him."
May He cause my heart to be turned toward Him; may I be reminded of this daily. Truly I deserve nothing.
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