{"id":164,"date":"2012-05-31T00:01:12","date_gmt":"2012-05-31T05:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=164"},"modified":"2012-05-30T21:33:55","modified_gmt":"2012-05-31T02:33:55","slug":"enlightened-entitlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=164","title":{"rendered":"Enlightened Entitlement"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cLet nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.\u201d Philippians 2:3-4 NKJV<\/em><\/p>\n

On April 3 this year tornados skipped through outlying areas of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, damaging hundreds of homes. One of the twisters uprooted a swath barely over a mile from my house, and it was natural to think, \u201cWow, that was close.\u201d<\/p>\n

Really? It was more than close for the families from whose homes the storms bit chunks and then spit them from here to yonder. But these families were all strangers to me, and though I empathized with them, their loss did not affect me as if it were my own.<\/p>\n

There is a single fault that more than any other presents a challenge to the good news that, in Jesus, God the Father has given believers power over all the power of the enemy; the marvelous truth that every good and perfect gift is from the Father of Lights and in Him is no shadow of turning; the incredible fact that Jesus never turned away the tormented by telling them God was using affliction to perfect them; the quiet assurance that He will never ever give a stone when we ask for bread. And this is it: That we sometimes neglect to proclaim the perfect love of God in humility and unity.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t miss the mark intentionally. We simply get caught up in our own stuff. \u201cI\u2019m blessed.\u201d \u201cThe Lord met my needs.\u201d \u201cThe Lord called me to do this or that.\u201d All very true, but it has a bit of a \u201ctinny\u201d ring to it, doesn\u2019t it? (1 Corinthians 13:1) Perhaps it\u2019s not quite\u00a0a conversation\u00a0that ministers grace to the hearer (Ephesians 4:29).\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0reminded from time to time of a quip I read once, \u201cYou\u2019re unique\u2026.just like everybody else.\u201d The Lord doesn\u2019t love us any less if He loves others just as much.<\/p>\n

We can take a lesson from the people of Oklahoma City, whose response to the horrific bombing of the Federal Building on a Wednesday morning in April 1995 became a lesson to the world on how a community can become one. Years later, I was in Oklahoma City on business when tornados ripped through Moore and other suburbs. I heard the FEMA and Red Cross workers talking over breakfast at the hotel about the wonderfully generous Oklahoma City people. I watched the queues of citizens bringing clothing and water and food until the stations were filled to overflowing. Let me tell you, the giving was contagious.<\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t it be nice if the world spoke of Christians as they did of Oklahoma City? Beloved, there\u2019s little profit in you or I alone gaining heaven on earth \u2013 the real value, the real power, resides in our collective victory. It is as the oil flowing down Aaron\u2019s beard (Psalm 133). Beautiful. Fragrant. Powerful.<\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s words to the church at Philippi are certainly contrary to today\u2019s culture, aren\u2019t they? The \u201cSixties\u201d did a lot more damage to our nation than we understood at the time in my humble opinion: The \u201cMe Generation\u201d was born. But where sin abounds grace will much more abound (Romans 5:20). The Lord will have a \u201cWe Generation\u201d. He has one already. They are everywhere among us, a true counter culture movement. Can you find them? Are you one of them?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cLet nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.\u201d … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Mo02-2E","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":97,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=97","url_meta":{"origin":164,"position":0},"title":"One Talent Woes","author":"lsimonds","date":"August 1, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cFor the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2003"","block_context":{"text":"2003","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":247,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=247","url_meta":{"origin":164,"position":1},"title":"Prime Directive","author":"lsimonds","date":"October 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cSo when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, \u2018Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?\u2019 He said to him, \u2018Yes Lord, You know that I love You.\u2019 He said to him, \u2018Feed my lambs.\u2019\u201d John 21:15 In the imagined universe of Star Trek,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2012"","block_context":{"text":"2012","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1621,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=1621","url_meta":{"origin":164,"position":2},"title":"Whose Side Are You On?","author":"lsimonds","date":"September 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\"And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth...\" Acts 17:26 NKJV College football started this Labor Day weekend, and I watched the Arkansas Razorbacks battle the Rice Owls. Sometime during the third quarter, while the athletes were milling\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2021"","block_context":{"text":"2021","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=21"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":433,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=433","url_meta":{"origin":164,"position":3},"title":"As Gracious As I Might Be","author":"lsimonds","date":"December 31, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cEnlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2014"","block_context":{"text":"2014","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=11"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":437,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=437","url_meta":{"origin":164,"position":4},"title":"Stella!","author":"lsimonds","date":"January 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cThis is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.\u201d John 6:39 About a year and a half ago, against good judgment, I adopted a black and white Pomeranian out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2015"","block_context":{"text":"2015","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":865,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=865","url_meta":{"origin":164,"position":5},"title":"More Where That Came From","author":"lsimonds","date":"June 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"[The poem] \u201cMythopoeia\u201d was inspired by the 19 September 1931 conversation in which [J.R.R.] Tolkien and [Hugo] Dyson convinced [C.S.] Lewis that the Christian story is a myth that \u201creally happened.\u201d\u2026This conversation changed the course of Lewis\u2019s life. 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