Human rights – Constitutional rights – States rights – Civil rights – Legal rights – Consumer rights – Labor rights – Patient’s rights – Women’s rights – Children’s rights – Animal rights
No question about it! People, animals and things need to be protected from people. We should take action against violence of every imaginable kind. Battered wives and children, tortured prisoners of war, neglected animals, railroaded defendants, humiliated and traumatized victims of crime all need the combined help of others to escape the tyranny imposed on them.
BUT have you ever stopped to think that if another set of rights had been honored, none of these other crimes would ever occur? I’m talking about God’s rights. He has allowed Himself to be victimized. He has been forgotten, slandered, libeled, cursed, robbed, cheated and threatened. His character has been misrepresented. His family, property and possessions have been abused, wasted, and contaminated by every kind of unthinkable and irresponsible action. His wisdom has been mocked and His love has been hated.
That is why violence is all around us. If God’s rights were honored, there would be no battered wives or children. If His rights were protected, there wouldn’t even be a neglected, whimpering dog in anyone’s backyard.
Someone may respond, “It’s different in God’s case”. Well, sure, He’s big enough to take care of Himself. But because of His love and wisdom, He has made Himself vulnerable to abuse. He has chosen not to give us [I have used the word “us” intentionally], His abusers, the quick justice we deserve. Instead [think seriously about this], He has arranged it so that His mercies are new every morning [Lamentations 3:22-23], even while His rights are being forfeited in the process. Yet we:
- Rush through each day without giving Him much thought
- Live as if God doesn’t exist
- Treat God as our personal servant instead of serving Him
- Pick and choose which commandments and words of the Lord we will obey
- Abuse the wonderful body He has blessed us with
- Do not stand up for God in the marketplace or defend His name when it is abused
- Do not recognize God’s claim to everything we have
- Act as if we’ll never have to give an account of our lives to God
Can anyone honestly deny that God, who has made us and our world, has a right to be listened to, respected, loved, thanked, trusted, obeyed, worshiped, served, honored, and feared?
Let’s try thinking today about what we owe Him. Let’s look at His battered Son, and think about God’s rights.
Fellow Abuser, Pastor Steve