Entitlement vs. Gratitude
As a Christian, I believe that God created and
delights in all races, and that no one race is inherently better than any
other. What individuals do for others,
within or across races and other "categories" is what matters. They story of the "Good Samaritan" was Jesus' way of explaining this fact. The Samaritans were considered outsiders and "half-breeds" by the Jews of Jesus' time. They were hated. Jesus used this group in his illustration of what a "good neighbor" looked like, being that the "good neighbor" in the illustration was a member of this hated group, who was the only person who, passing a man who had been robbed and beaten, and left for dead, was the one who helped the man. Jesus was tearing down divisions between people, saying, in effect, there is no "good group" or "bad group." There are only loving and unloving individuals (of which Christians should be standing out as the former). Likewise, when Jesus sent Peter the vision of the sheet covered with foods what were considered "unclean" for purposes of eating, instructing Peter to "kill and eat." His point, in using the food analogy, was to tell Peter that God had opened the door to salvation for not only Jews but also Gentiles, and therefore, no one should call "unclean" that God has made clean by His own blood given for ALL as a substitutionary sacrifice on the cross.
This gives a lie to the opinion of those who are trying to discredit and marginalize Christians as primarily haters and bigots. Nothing could be further from the TRUTH. "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because GOD IS LOVE." (1 Jn. 4:7-8). Anyone claiming to know God and hates is a liar and the Truth is not in him. Of course, there is also the fact that not everyone who calls themselves "Christian" actually is one. We shall be known by our "FRUITS" - the way we love and behave toward others.
Our world has gone so upside down
that even, sadly, in the church, this idea has taken hold that we are a member
of our race, and not of the Body of Christ, first. Paul said, “There is
neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male for female, for you are all one in
Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and
heirs according to the promise.” (Gal. 4:28-29) This is not a statement of
denial; Paul is not saying that these distinctions do not exist except in our
minds. He is saying that for
believers, the FOCUS should be that we all belong to Christ and THAT should be
our PRIMARY IDENTITY, not gender or race, ethnicity or economics. Jesus said, (Mt. 5:9) " Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons [and daughters, implied] of God." The apostle Paul reaffirms this message in this way: "For he himself [Jesus] is our peace, who has made us both [referring to Jew and Gentile, the prevailing division at the time of his writing] one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility...that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace..." (Eph. 2:14, 15)
Where we
base our identity will determine whether we will be a peacemaker or divider.
Calling names based on race or any other category – especially within the Body
of Christ – is incongruous with our calling and is taking on a worldly, not a
Christian, perspective. Satan wants to
divide Christians to give us a bad reputation (or to confirm for the world the
reputation that we already have, which is often anything BUT Christian!). Jesus calls us to UNITY in Him. “…May they be brought to complete unity to let
the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me”
(Jn. 17:23), Jesus prayed in his final prayer discourse prior to His sufferering, death and resurrection. He also chose, among his original 12 disciples, a tax collector (Levi,
or Matthew as we have come to know him) and Simon (the “Zealot,”) basically sworn
enemies, to demonstrate the unifying and healing effect that He had – and continues
to have – on His followers.
When we focus on Jesus, rather than
popularity or politics, we can remember and return to that calling, and forego entitlement, for with
that calling comes freedom from the enslavement to the opinions of others around
us, and with that freedom come gratitude and peace over striving and
chaos. And that gratitude, that peace
and that freedom are the opposite of enslavement and entitlement. And when the world sees THOSE traits in us,
they WILL ask us about and WANT to come to Jesus because they themselves – or many
of them – are so tired of the negativity and name-calling, and looking for REST,
the rest that Jesus invites us all to receive in Himself. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for
I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden in light.” (Mt. 11:28-30)