Tuesday, January 10, 2006

No personal rights

" To yield this way in suffering obedience to the Father's will meant that
Jesus had to totally give up His personal rights. Paul tells us how Jesus
"did not count equality with Gid a thing to be grasped, but made himself
nothing, taking the form of a servant" (Phillipians 2:6-7 ESV). As God's
willing servant and the servant of mankind, Jesus "humbled Himself and
became obedient to the point of death, even to the death of the cross"
(2:8). Jesus gave Himself over to God, to learn and to do His Father's will.
One of the great hindrances for Christians is the way so many of us try to
cling to our rights and what we thing we deserve. The truth is, when you
became a Christian, you give over all the rights of your life to the One
who has the unquestionable right to be your Lord. You believe Him, you
trust Him, and let Him accomplish His purpose through your life without
regard to whatever you think you might deserve. Taking up your cross-
living by the cross of Christ- means no more rights....
And that yieldness, that release of Himself to God, required that Jesus
endure a horror that you and I- because of His obedience- will never have
to face this terror that He endured is something we must now emplore to
better understand the cross.' "

Taken from "Experiencing the Cross" by Henry Blackaby

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