I grew up in America. There are so many great things there. They're so readily accessible too. We experience those great things so often that it's easy to take them for granted. It's easy to think we deserve them.
I think I deserve a lot of things. I have a sense of entitlement when it comes to such things. I'm just so used to them that they've become basic rights in my life. Some of those things are:
- Independence
- The ability to drive wherever I want to go whenever I feel like going
- Coffee shops
- Quick trips for errands
- Artificial room temperature... gotta love that 73 degree weather
- A bug-free environment
- Reliable running water
- Constant electricity
It's actually the inspiration for this blog post. It's been an annoyance, but it sure is teaching me a lot. In Ghana, the power company rotates power. "Lights out" is a common phrase and a common occurrence. Since we've been here, we've become accustomed to losing power for a few hours two or three times a week. It hasn't been a big deal, just a minor annoyance.
This past week has been different. We have had daily power outages. To relieve our frustration, we always say, "At least it's consistent." We typically lose power at 8 am, and it returns around 3 pm. If it stays on at 8 am, it will go off around 3 pm and stay off until around 9 or 10. It's so dependable. But there have been a few days that have been worse than that. The power once went off at 8, came on at 3, went off at 4:30, came on at 10, and went off again at 3 am. That was a hard day.
The problem with our power outages is that our fans quit working. Our one relief from the heat and sweat quickly disappears. We also can't charge anything, so once our computers are dead, our office work for the day has been paused. If we're on campus, it's not a big deal, but sometimes it ruins our plans for the day.
I've been fairly bitter about it this last week. I want power. I want comfort. I want to brew some coffee and drink it under the fan! I catch myself thinking, "The power went off, but I have a right to electricity. In South Dakota, I always had power. If it ever went off, I knew it would come back on soon, and it would always have the excuse of a storm for the outage. South Dakota's power companies knew I had that right. Why can't Ghana realize that we deserve consistent power?"
Yesterday was different. The power stayed on ALL DAY. And when I went to bed, all I could think was, "Wow. I am so blessed. I didn't deserve to have a day full of electricity. It's not necessary. But it was such a blessing."
As much as I want to have a right to experience electricity 24/7, I don't have the right. I'm not entitled to it. I've just spent my life being so overwhelmingly blessed, that I assumed I had the right. But I don't.
Really, I don't have any rights in this world. I don't deserve anything. I chose sin. I chose to go against God and do my own thing. I chose to rebel. And those things deserved death - not coffee, electricity, water, a bug-free life. Death.
But the story doesn't end with me deserving death. It ends with Jesus. It ends with the Son of God coming to earth to live a life that points to God's goodness, dying a criminal's death in our place, being raised from the grave, and allowing me to experience something greater than death. The story ends with me experiencing Jesus, an undeserved gift, an undeserved relationship with the God of the universe. It is something I most definitely do not deserve, but it's something I have already received. And it beats constant electricity any day.
I am so blessed to have the perfect God love me, forgive me, and call me his daughter. He wants you to grow in your experience of him as Father as well. I pray you and I increase in our understanding of how little we are entitled to but how much we are offered even though we don't deserve it.
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