For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.

Galatians 5:13-15

Dear God, in a sermon Andy Stanley gave back in August 2020 called ‘Not in it to Win It” (I’ve mentioned this sermon many times and listened to it more than a few), one of the things he said was that the church is at its worst when it is fighting for its own rights and at its best when it is fighting for the rights of others. Again, that was for the church as a whole, but I think that can be applied to us as individuals as well. I think we are at our best, as Christians or any other religion/non-religion group of people, when we are more worried about the rights of others and laying our own rights down.

I suppose that is what Jesus modeled for us in what he did. As your son, he had the right to stay in heaven and ignore us. He had the right to come to earth in luxury, live as a king, not suffer at all, teach us for a while, and then ascend into heaven like Elijah. But that’s not what he did. He gave up his spot in heaven for 33 years, he lived as a poor child and adult, he walked through the human experience during a fairly primitive time in civilization, he submitted himself to extreme pain, and ultimately trusted you with his life. He did all of this so he could fight for the rights of others.

Father, help me, today, to find those for whom I am supposed to fight. My rights are immaterial. My selfishness is a hinderance to my happiness. The attaining of the things I want will not bring me joy–selfless service is what will bring me joy. So help me to be gracious with people who disagree with me. Help me to be loving to those who feel unloved. And help me to serve those who need served.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen