Comments on: Entitled to Rags

By: Bobby V. Aguilar, III

Bobby V. Aguilar, III — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:50:23 +0000

The Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians about his thorn in the flesh said,
“But He (God) said, ‘My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in your weakness.’ Therefore, i can boast more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power will be made perfect in me.”
Ms. Johns, i believe the love of God to be so compelling, so overpowering, so captivating, so intoxicating and so ever-desirable. So much so that when I fin myself “too weak to surrender to Christ” because of my own self-interest and desire for control, I will find Him engulfing me instead, perfecting His power in my weakness of surrender. On the one hand, my desire for Him, more than my will to obey Him, makes surrender a sweet yielding of my ghost. On the other hand, as Dr. Metzger said, if i am not anchored on the assured ground of my union with Christ, i will never surrender to Him because i am not assured that He has my best interests at heart.
Jesus was in a perichoresis (eternal dance) with the Father and the Spirit and so in their oneness as God and yet their uniqueness of persons, everything, including Jesus’ full surrender to the will of the Father, was an expression of holy love and perfect intimacy.
May we find ourselves and our religious faith consisting of holy affections for the fountainhead of all affections! May our religious affections lead us always to a more profound, to a higher level of sweet surrender in the already-not yet of our journey with Christ!

By: Kelsi

Kelsi — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:56:04 +0000

The quote you shared, Dave, by William Booth is powerful. I do see that total surrender is truly the greatest mark of power. I often feel much too weak to surrender to Christ because my own self-interest and desire for control is overwhelming. To truly surrender my control, autonomy and self-interests to Christ and entrust them to him is nuts if I only take into account my own strength. This is what strikes me with awe about Christ. He DID surrender completely because of his profound security and intimacy with his Father. I know that everyday I fail miserably at that, so it is no wonder that the Lord we worship was so perfect at such a seemingly insurmountable calling, because he is what we fail to be. This again brings me full circle to realize that my strength and perseverance must be found in Him, or else, yes, I will end every day feeling weary and defeated.

By: Kelsi

Kelsi — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:49:48 +0000

Ronaldo, you are right, that is so often our mentality: quid pro quo. I keep on going back to the subverted reality that Christ’s kingdom is not a kingdom at all by the world’s standards. His success is not the world’s, his glory is by no means the world’s. It is shattering to see that this is who and how we are called to be. Yet sadly, by and large, this is not the type of success and glory I am seeing us, the church, striving after. Devastatingly, I don’t see it looking any different than the power structures of this world. But I do have hope in a Christ that transforms and changes in a radical way. I must hold this hope for the church today. I am humbled through and through to realize that to even begin to strive after this upside down kingdom, my eyes and heart must be on His kingdom, not our own earthly empire. It is a beautiful call and struggle that he has confidently called us to, and he only does so because all things are possible in his name. This means we are victorious, if only we can believe and call on his name, not our own names of power and control.

By: Dave Hickox

Dave Hickox — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 21:33:41 +0000

I think here is one of the fundamental reasons why I’m troubled when people try to downplay the humanity of Christ.

Paul makes it so clear in Philippians that “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” I work in Washington, DC where status and power are king cultures mix together in a crazy theological stew. In the midst of a backdrop painted with Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Humanism, one of the most sovereign and powerful qualities that stands out about Christ can be found not in the whip he casts in the temple, but in his surrender on the cross. Look to other beliefs and tell me where you see God becoming man and not seizing power, but surrendering his life and being humiliated by those whom He created?

Christ was God and if anyone in history could have had any sort of right for earthly power and glory it was Jesus. But, it wasn’t even on his radar screen. If we’re basically the gum on God’s shoe, how can we possible think or feel that we have any right to status or power? The truth is that in my book, in the words of William Booth (founder of the Salvation Army), “the greatness of a man’s power is the measure of his surrender”.

Thanks for some great words Kelsi.

By: Paul Louis Metzger

Paul Louis Metzger — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 02:49:38 +0000

Thanks to everyone who wrote comments on Kelsi’s post on entitlement. God’s sacrificial love poured out in our lives through Christ Jesus in the Spirit is stronger than the desire for status. It is only as we are secure in that love that we can reach out and serve others with no demand for recognition or sense that God or they owe us. This love alone can sustain us for the marathon race that King ran so well so many years ago.

By: Bobby V. Aguilar, III

Bobby V. Aguilar, III — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:19:15 +0000

I take exception and strong reservation on what MLK, Jr wrote: “our innate desire to lead and for recognition is not in and of itself evil.” Would you mind contextualizing this with what John the Beloved wrote (I John 2:16): “…For everything in the world-… the boasting of what he [man] does and has- comes not from the Father but from the world.” ? Much appreciate your clarification.

By: Ronaldo A. Sison

Ronaldo A. Sison — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 16:02:04 +0000

Quid pro quo. “Something for something. An equal exchange of goods or services.”
In a recent theology class, I heard about this cliche on demanding from God some sort of recompense for the good that we do. Or words to that effect, at least in my understanding. I think it is about a sense of fairness: if and when i do something good or worthwhile, i deserve something good or worthwhile, too, in exchange. When i do something for God, i deserve something good from God. No, i don’t just deserve it, i demand it. I want to be recognize for the good that i do and i want to be famous for the exceptional abilities I have.
What a pathetic contrast to what Jesus said, “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.” And the Apostle Paul wrote in a Roman jail to his Philippian friends: “But whatsoever is to my gain, i consider them loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things…I consider them rubbish that i may gain Christ and be found in him the righteousness that is not by law but that is by faith… forgetting what is behind and straining on toward what is ahead, i press on to the upward prize that God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Thanks, Kelsi, for beaming the spotlight on what it means to live the crucified life without the fanfare and the accolades! May all of us who profess to be followers of Jesus not allow our left hands to know what the good that our right hands are doing, leaving them to our Father who sees what we do in secret! May we do things because we keep on falling in love with the Savior, as He continually pours out His love and consumes as with His love!
Once more, SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI! Thus passes the glory of the world…

By: Rachel O'Brien

Rachel O'Brien — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:43:28 +0000

Thanks for the profound comments. Because my sister commented I am reminded of His constant perfecting of us that is so different from the “arrival” that the world promises. There are moments when we feel have arrived, we have succeed, and they pass so quickly that we seek them over and over again. Constantly searching, we want a self actualization that only Christ provides, because our “self” is bound in Him. Strangely, as I begin to, or am “forced” to, seek my arrival in Christ those moments fade, their beauty becomes dull, their power weekening daily. Our story always pointing, and being in, Christ weakens the beauty of success by the worlds standards and even by our own. Chelsea, I love you, and have seen your life being more and more united within Christ, your love and devotion to Him is beautiful and inspiring. There are shades of perfection growing in you spurred by the love we have for Grace and her life.

By: Kelsi

Kelsi — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:51:34 +0000

Chelsea thank you for your comment. It is so powerful to see how Christ humbles and strengthens us in heartbreaking experiences, and how he makes his sufficiency- not ours- known through and in the midst of it.

By: Kelsi

Kelsi — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:18:15 +0000

Amen. I’ve been thinking about the fact that Christ became our sin, our brokenness, our shame and funk (a lowly carpenter) because that is who WE are. The only way for him to love us fully was by identifying with our brokenness. So really, he was “lowly and pathetic” because we are lowly and pathetic. So by us ridiculing Christ, it is really us foolishly ridiculing our own selves– our ugliness that he so humbly assumed so we could have union with him. Yet we are the ones who want recognition. I hear what you are saying, Ross. My desire for entitlement is put to shame when I seek to understand Christ’s perfect humility and the profound security in that. Like Chrissi said, it’s so true to meditate on the fact that it is Christ who believes in us, and this is more powerful and sustaining than having an audience of 500,000 applauding our own futility apart from Him.