I will settle things with You, Lord, once and for all concerning my rights and responsibilities. To accept Jesus as my Savior means I resign all rights to justify my sin before You; Jesus does that for me. But to accept Jesus as my Lord means I resign all rights to myself—my time, my talents, my future, my all.
That is where my difficulty is—resigning myself. To surrender my rights to myself means surrendering my rights to my reputation (He “made himself of no reputation,” Philippians 2:7, KJV); surrendering my rights to choose my place of service (He “set His face to go to Jerusalem,” Luke 9:51); surrendering my rights to my possessions (He had “no place to lay his head,” Luke 9:58, NIV); surrendering my rights to make demands (He “came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,” Matthew 20:28, KJV); surrendering my rights to privacy and immunity from the needs of others (He said, “They need not depart; give … them to eat,” Matthew 14:16, KJV).
When I became a Christian I thought, How wonderful to be rid of the burden of sin’s responsibility! But when I became a disciple, Jesus put another burden upon me; the burden of others. The second burden took away all my rights, and a person without rights is a slave (He “took on the nature [form] of a slave,” Philippians 2:7, Williams).
Most of the time when I am touchy, irritable, or peevish (if it is not physical), it is because I have reclaimed what I thought I had surrendered to Jesus, for these are the feelings of one whose claim is threatened. My job then is to resurrender as quickly as possible and quitclaim my possessions. I rejoice that I am an “all things new” person, made so because I have become a “new creation” in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17, Berkeley).
“Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes”(Psalm 37:7).
Daily with the King 