Bad Umps and Protecting Your Rights

Suggested Reading:1 Corinthians 6:1-8

When my son started playing little league baseball, it wasn't long before his team lost a game. His head coach was out of town and so things were already a little rocky. On top of that, the umpire was a 15 year old kid who was uncertain of himself and listened to the opposing team’s coach (I think they were somewhat acquainted with each other) when trying to make calls.  On one particular play, our pitcher barehanded a ball on the ground and ran over to tag the runner coming home from third base. Inexplicably, the runner was called safe.  Apparently, the opposing coach convinced the ump that the pitcher tagged him with his throwing hand when the ball was in his glove. It wasn’t. But the game was pretty much lost by that point anyway and so our assistant coach did something I was rather proud of. He taught the boys to respect the umpire and his call rather than creating a scene. He presented an example of good sportsmanship.

Whether you agree with the coach’s decision or not, Paul actually urged the believers in Corinth to follow a similar line of thinking when dealing with their own legitimate complaints. Apparently, there were several disputes that had broken out between members of the church and these people had taken each other to court. Paul argued that they should find someone in the church to resolve their disputes rather than take their disputes into the secular courts and present a bad witness to the world. Naturally, not everyone would agree to that and so Paul continued, “Why not rather put up with injustice? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you act unjustly and cheat – and you do this to believers!” (1 Corinthians 6:7, HCSB).

We live in a society that treasures the rights of the individual and I am glad that we do. We should always respect other people’s rights. But when it comes to our own rights, we should be willing to let go of them when it would advance the work of the kingdom. When that person looks you in the eye and then cuts in front of you, will your witness be greater if you confront them and demand your proper place or if you graciously allow them in and strike up a conversation? When that woman takes your Avon order (and your money) and takes six months to get your order delivered, would the greater witness be to ask what happened and then forgive her or to demand a refund because you didn't get what you paid for when you paid for it?

I am not saying that you should let people run all over you, although it sometimes looks like that. I'm talking about willingly laying down your rights, refusing to cling to what you deserve because the kingdom will grow more through your self-denial. I'm talking about, in those moments where you could legitimately demand your rights, intentionally choosing to let them go. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8, NLT).

We should always protect other people's rights but we must also be willing to let go of our own.  Just as Jesus gave up what he deserved in order to reach us, we must be willing to give up what we deserve to reach others.

Destroying Talking Lego Buildings

Suggested Reading: Romans 9:14-29

I've always loved watching the difference between the way little girls play with Legos and the way little boys play with them (please forgive the stereotyping I'm about to do based on my experience). Little girls like to build something and then play with it and admire it. While boys sometimes do that as well, little boys are just as likely to build something for the sole purpose of destroying it. They enjoy putting something together just so they can knock it down and I admit I did the same thing when I was a little boy. When girls and boys play together this can lead to conflict, and eventually to separate building endeavors. Often I hear the little girls ask the question, "Why do you build it if you're just going to knock it down?" and just as often I hear the boys respond with something like, "I built it. I can knock it down if I want to."  Imagine for just a moment, though, if one of those Lego construction projects suddenly spoke up and said, "You can't knock me down! I have rights!" While children might stop and wonder at the suddenly speaking legos, they might just as easily laugh and say, "Oh yeah, I built you and I can knock you down if I want."

As human beings created by God, the human race has grown increasingly arrogant through the centuries, believing we have the right to tell God what he can do and what he can't do. Even Christian theologians today have the audacity today to decide what God can and can't do based on their own ideas and human systems of moralities. Paul fought this same attitude from people who didn't want to face God's judgment for their sin and questioned God's right to act as judge. Paul responded by asking, But who are you, a mere man, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” Or has the potter no right over the clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor? (Romans 9:20-21, HCSB).

We serve a God who is loving and kind, who extends mercy to us because of His great love for us. But we must never take God's kindness and patience for granted and start believing that God owes us kindness and patience. As his beloved children, we can trust that God will give us mercy because God has promised it to us, but we must never presume upon it. We must never begin to treat God with the attitude that he owes us anything. God has the right to do whatever God wants to do with us. The fact that God doesn't simply destroy us and has promised not to doesn't mean we should treat God like he can't.

Have you been presuming on God's grace? Doing things you know you shouldn't because God has to forgive you if you ask him? Have you been pushing the boundaries without worrying about the consequences because you know God will be patient with you? Normally, we call that taking advantage of someone. As kind and merciful as God is, trying to take advantage of God is a dangerous game to play.

Diva Requests and Abandoned Rights

Suggested Reading: Nehemiah 5

Sometimes celebrities make crazy demands. I came across a list of demands that stars have made of the hotels where they stay or of the people who host their concerts. Some of the demands were kind of silly, like a newly installed toilet seat that had never been used or all gold faucets in the rooms. Some revolved around food, where they required particular brands of soda or only organic fruit. Apparently, one celebrity requires that her "suite must be painted and furnished completely in white, with white lilies and white roses, her favorite flowers. White candles prominently placed, preferably with Paris perfume, “Diptyque.” Her sheets must be of Egyptian cotton with a thread count of at least 250. Room temperature set at exactly 25.5 degrees Celsius" (<http://www.huliq.com/43817/top-ten-outrageous-celebrity-demands>).  The list didn't say what happens if they don't get what they demand.

While most of us are not celebrities who can demand special treatment when we go someplace new, it is not uncommon for very un-famous people to be very demanding when it comes to getting what they are due. Every day we see examples of people who get upset if you call them "Mr." or "Mrs." instead of by their professional title. We have people who go into road rage when another driver doesn't yield the right of way, people in lines at grocery stores or waiting for food at restaurants get upset when people who arrived later get served first. Sometimes, our demand for our "rights" extends to wanting other people to provide the necessities of life for us.

Everyday we encounter areas of life where we feel like we are owed something or due a particular kind of treatment. In some ways, these things help society to function smoothly, such as knowing when and to whom we are to yield the right of way when driving. At other times, these things are simply courtesies that society has developed over time. In either case, we can often feel hurt, angered, or offended when we don't get what is due to us.

In the person of Nehemiah, we find the opposite of this trend. In Nehemiah 5: 14, we read, "Furthermore, from the day King Artaxerxes appointed me to be their governor in the land of Judah…I and my associates never ate from the food allotted for the governor" (HCSB). Nehemiah had arrived in Jerusalem and discovered the squalor in which his fellow Israelites lived and he decided to skip the rights he could have demanded as governor because his rights would have placed an undue burden on the people. He could have demanded gubernatorial rights but decided he could live without them. In Philippians 2:6, Paul says something similar about Jesus who "existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage" (HCSB). In both Jesus' and Nehemiah's case, they had rights they could have demanded, based upon who they were but they chose not to demand their rights.

When we choose to follow Christ, we choose not to make an issue of what we think people owe us. Instead, like Christ, we should try to take upon ourselves the very debts other people owe to us. Following Christ's example means we pay other people's debts rather than demanding that people pay us what we are owed.

Does someone owe you? Have you been slighted or been cheated out of what was yours? Follow Christ's example and focus on what you can do for the ones who have wronged you. It will make a world of difference.