My Rights

Good afternoon!

I just came back to the office after having led a celebration of life service for a man in our community. At the reception I sat at a table with two other gentlemen who began talking about the issues around water rights in their communities. I must confess that I am rather ignorant on the subject, so I sat there trying my best to look like I had an inkling of what they were talking about. I did learn a few things, but, let's face it, most of it went right over my head. What impacted me most, was not the details of the conversation as much as the tone.

The deeper into the conversation they got, the more their tone changed. They went from spewing factual information to passionately defending their position. Not that they were yelling or arguing, but I could sense the emotions that ran deep on the topic (they were bringing up things that happened 15-20 years ago). I know that some of the great legal battles and issues in our country are around water and who has the right to use it. It pits friends against friends and communities against communities. It is a very divisive issue in our country.

My first thought focused on water itself. As people of faith, we believe that God created the heavens and the earth and EVERYTHING in it. Most of the earth is covered with water. The atmosphere is made up of the elements of water. Water is all around us. And, we fight over it?
Really?

True to our human nature, we want to be sure that there is always enough for ourselves. While there may be abundance, we fear that somewhere down the line we will not have enough. Or, we may be experiencing scarcity, therefore our fear causes us to hoard and hold on to more. We draw boundaries. Make laws. Tell people what they can use and what they can't. We have arguments and lawsuits about "rights" and "ownership" of what God created and freely supplies. I begin to wonder if this was really God's intent when he created us to take care of His world.

When we fight about our "rights" around property and things, we have lost our focus. As people of faith, if we believe that God is a God of abundance and provision, then why do we limit God and the ways he desires to pour out His blessings? Imagine if we did not worry about who possessed what and fought about what was rightfully ours and we started generously sharing what God offers. We share when we have "enough", we share in our "scarcity", we share in our abundance...we share.

Generous living looks beyond myself and my rights. It begins to view the world in a different light. The right that God has given me is the right to share His blessings on my life and allow others to experience it for themselves. The right God has given me is to love generously and without limit. It is not about my rights, but about the righteous God living through me.

Righteous God, full of love, mercy, and strength, give me a generous heart. Break my selfish spirit and my greedy desires, and form within me Your generous spirit. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.