I might get pushback on this one, but here it goes… I don’t think that being a Christian gets us special privileges in the life we live here on Earth. While I do feel we possess an inner advantage to deal with life’s moments, obstacles and opportunities as a result of the spiritual foresight and insight we receive through our sincere relationship with Jesus Christ. Look at it this way, we can’t always avoid the storm, but we can travel with an umbrella.
Let’s take a look at Ecclesiastes 9:10-11 “10 Whatever you do, do well. For when you go to the grave, there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom. 11 I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time.” My interpretation of this passage is that we don’t necessarily control the opportunities that present themselves, but we have complete control in the manner in which we maneuver through life. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr said it this way “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” If we choose to live life as if we have some type of imagined Christian privilege and expect that every blessing designed for our lives will somehow fall into our laps because of who we are, we will miss out on so many benefits simply because we were out of position at the appointed time and place the blessing was delivered.
Dr. John S. Hilkevick commented about a type of blessing or reward that is not generally appreciated. He speaks of a reward that is divinely promised, but not gracefully bestowed or given. He states that these blessings must be claimed with humility, boldness and courage. Christianity is not for the wimpy and lazy. I am in full agreement with Dr. Hilkevich and I choose to say it this way “Lazy, privilege minded Christians may make it to Heaven, but will leave so many unclaimed blessings on Earth simply because of a lack of effort to be excellent.
In closing please allow me to share my motivating experience for this article. My wife and I sat under a cabana on St. Petersburg Beach a couple years ago. We were supposed to be relaxing and taking time away from the hustle and bustle of our lives, but I soon found myself logging into my bank account on my iPhone. Since I really didn’t have a purpose for logging in, I began to peruse the different tabs and stumbled upon a tab labeled “Offers/Rewards.” When I clicked this tab that had eluded my interest for years, I learned that we had accumulated several thousand points that were eligible to be redeemed for items or cash. Well, in less than three minutes I had stumbled upon nearly $500 that my bank had promised us, but they were not going to gracefully bestow the funds upon us. We had to put forth an effort to be more informed. I challenge every believer reading this article to explore areas of your faith that may have been ignored. You never know… you may just happen to stumble upon an unclaimed blessing.