Right with God? What a privilege!

I reckon everything as complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. (Philippians 3:8 GNB)

In today’s world we tend to speak more easily of our ‘rights’ than we do of our ‘privileges’. Since World War II the concept of human rights has proven very useful in tackling injustice. It creates a legal tool which helps break down excuses that would protect perpetrators from the consequences of their actions. Human rights serve us well in our legal codes and law courts.

Rights set a baseline for human behaviour and help correct us when we breach it. On their own, however, they don’t provide a sense of self-awareness and meaning that can establish our identity as individuals, families, friends and acquaintances, and part of a wider society. A society based only on the concept of rights will sadly lack the essentials we need to bind us together as people.

Law, no matter how fine and well-intentioned, cannot reach the human heart. Law can compel obedience through shame or fear of punishment, but it cannot make that obedience willing. We will always look for ways around law. That’s why – despite all our fine laws – our legal systems fund an army of solicitors, barristers, courts, magistrates and judges.

We have no rights in the kingdom of God… Yet God has privileged us in Jesus Christ.

Privileges are entirely different. They are less popular than rights, because a right is something I deserve to have, while a privilege is something I have that I do not necessarily deserve. A right begins with me, a privilege begins with someone, or something, else. Privilege, then, carries the concept of gift, grace. I don’t grab it for myself, but it is given to me.

I remember moving into Grade 3 at school. Grade 3 came with a privilege called a ‘pen licence’. That meant you could have a full inkwell on your desk, a pen with a nib and a blotting pad. You were trusted to use this somewhat risky combination. Before you got it, you were trained in its use. If you abused it, you would lose the privilege and go back to writing in pencil.

The ‘pen licence’ was a mark of your maturity and your ability to handle responsibility. It was not a right, it was a privilege.

Christians know a great deal about this kind of privilege. We have no rights in the kingdom of God. By rights, we should not even be here. Yet God has privileged us in Jesus Christ with his grace, his gift of forgiveness and acceptance, of eternal life now and in the world to come. God is bringing us to maturity as his people, training us in the ways of grace, love and forgiveness. He privileges us to share in Christ’s service to others and even in his suffering (for example, see 2 Corinthians 8:4 and Philippians 1:29).

I don’t mean to set rights and privileges against each other. Both help us live meaningful, fruitful lives. In the end, however, at our last day, we will not be able to claim any rights. The best we will manage then is to throw ourselves into the loving, merciful arms of our Saviour, because he has privileged us to be united with him in his death and resurrection.