23Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
27"Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name!"
At my daughter's wedding last Saturday, my senior pastor who was solemnizing the matrimony asked, "Who gives this woman to be married?"
I stood up, raised my hand and with conviction, replied, "I."
I realized that I made a major decision in my life that day - I gave away my rights to my lovely princess to her husband, Darrell. From that moment on, Darrell became the head of Natalie; he will be responsible to God for her. As much as I desire to, it is no longer me who has that responsibility - I have indeed given up my rights over Natalie.
The trouble with men is that many of us struggle with our rights, or rather, the giving up of our rights.
Satan used that to cause Adam and Eve to fall - he deceived them into deciding that they had rights to be equal with God. Since that fateful day, mankind struggles with pride - the pride of human rights!
Jesus struggled with that thought too as He was fully human when He was on earth. But praise be to God, Jesus resolved His struggle within Himself quickly. He remembered His mission and thus gave up His own rights to avoid the pain. He let the Father's will prevail over His own.
When we decide to make Jesus our Lord and Savior, we need to give up ALL of our "rights" to Him. He said that those who want to follow Him must give up his life (John 12:26). Only when we do that (give up the love of the things of this earthly life), can we then really receive the joy of our fellowship with God.
Dear beloved, let us remind our self daily to give up our rights to Jesus and let Him rule in our life!
God bless.
Steven
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