My Rights

   Yesterday, as my golf partner and I were riding back home from our regular Friday outing, we were discussing our country's growing financial problems. It was easy to cast the blame on government or some others who don't seem to see the principles this great land was founded upon, but I talked about my personal responsibility yesterday morning, so I can't do that again. Where we landed in our talks was the rights of individual Americans. Not those given by God, or even in the Bill of Rights, but those things that we feel we have a right to have in our lives, just because we live here. I guess the word is "entitlements".


   Rights or entitlements permeate our culture and our own individual lives. I have the right to be happy, to have the best of everything, to be healthy, to be first, to be the best. The key word is "I". Where is the thought of others, or the idea of personal responsibility in the whole scenario? It is very easy to get caught up in this idea of "me first", and I fall into that trap as easily as anyone. I want what I want and when I want it.


   How different that is from what Jesus taught in Matthew 5 as I read this morning in The Message:


   "Here's another old saying that deserves a second look: 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.' Is that going to get us anywhere? Here's what I propose: 'Don't hit back at all.' If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously."


   Or, reading this again in a more familiar version, the American Standard:


   “You have heard that it was said, ‘AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.’ ³⁹ But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. ⁴⁰ If anyone wants to sue you and take your ^[a]shirt, let him have your ^[b]coat also. ⁴¹ Whoever^[c]forces you to go one mile, go with him two. ⁴² Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you."


   Is it actually possible to live in that way, to not insist on my rights, but being subservient to the needs and desires of others? 


   What would happen if a whole nation lived that way? How about just those who claim to follow Jesus? 


   How about just me?