The third claim that I will confront as a disciple is the world’s claim on me. This is the claim Paul had in mind when he said, “I am debtor” (Romans 1:14, KJV). The basis of that claim is the inherent right every person has in the finished work of Calvary. If Christ died for “the whole world” (1 John 2:2), then the right to be saved cannot be denied anyone who truly wants it. This means that my function in this world is essentially a missionary one.
But even more, the world has the right to find God in me. One purpose of Christ’s incarnation, among others, was to show the world what God was like in the flesh. Seeing God in Christ was more than a privilege; it was a right. For if God loves the world and seeks to redeem it, then the world has a right to partake of that redemption as it was conveyed to them by the human agency of Christ.
Since Christ is no longer in the world physically, He must convey Himself to the world through His followers, you and me. That means my unsavedfriends have the right through me to partake of God’s love, or any of His other qualities, such as truth and mercy. It is as if God invited them to a party—in me—and I cannot rightly turn them away. I cannot choose to do things for myself if it means denying someone else the right to come to the banquet. I must treat the outsider as if I were outside; how would I feel if, hungry and thirsty, I were denied access to the God who is my basic right?
Lord, help me to be sensitive to the claims of others, who were born to be claimed by the measureless love of God in Christ. May I say with Paul, “The love of Christ controls us … and He … gave us the ministry of reconciliation… we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:14–20).
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Daily with the King 