A Privilege, Not a Right

Luke 39-45

39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea,40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women,and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

“Why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Those words of Elizabeth resonate with me. Elizabeth recognized that to be in the presence of the Lord was a great privilege, a blessing. I wonder if we recognize that today?

We live in a society of entitlement. We all believe that we deserve something. Children believe they deserve more because, well, they’re our children. They take for granted what it takes to buy those toys or clothes. It is incomprehensible to a first grader’s mind that the video game that they are begging for could cost their parent’s a half day’s work worth of earnings. They don’t understand because they haven’t experienced life. They haven’t experience real work. They haven’t experienced true want.

Do we model that same sense of entitlement in our faith? The same presence that Elizabeth was overwhelmingly humbled and honored to be with, is the presence of God with us now. Are we humbled? Do we even acknowledge it, or worse yet, do we even stubbornly ignore God when his presence stands in contrast to what we are saying or doing? Somewhere along the line we have confused the privilege of God’s presence with our right to God’s presence as His children.

We don’t deserve it. We couldn’t do enough to deserve it even if we tried, and yet there it is, regardless of our choices. In spite of our neglect of it. It is this presence that shows us what unconditional love is. Let us never forget or ignore that…even though we can.

Prayer: Holy God, you are. You are simply there, every moment, everyday for us…unconditionally. May we seek to renew our sense of awe in your presence, for it is a privilege that is given and not deserved. Amen