{"id":170,"date":"2011-03-26T10:35:38","date_gmt":"2011-03-26T14:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andyanglea.com\/blog\/?p=170"},"modified":"2011-03-26T10:35:38","modified_gmt":"2011-03-26T14:35:38","slug":"have-we-no-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andyanglea.com\/?p=170","title":{"rendered":"Have We No Rights?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I finished reading a short book today that was recommened to me by a retired missionary that spoke at my church recently. The book is titled Have We No Rights?<\/em> and was written by Mabel Williamson, a missionary to China in the first half of the last century. The book deals with the believer’s “rights” in ministry. I found it very convicting. It is also very appropo<\/em> as I’m posting this from the Wilds where Tim K. is speaking about mission opportunties on the Frontline<\/a>. The whole book <\/a>is available as part of the Gutenberg project.<\/p>\n

The book ends with the following “poem” which I thought I would share.<\/p>\n

\n

He Had No Rights<\/em><\/h2>\n

He had no rights:<\/p>\n

\n

No right to a soft bed, and a well-laid table;<\/p>\n

No right to a home of His own, a place where His own pleasure might be sought;<\/p>\n

No right to choose pleasant, congenial companions, those who could understand Him and sympathize with Him;<\/p>\n

No right to shrink away from filth and sin, to pull His garments closer around Him and turn aside to walk in cleaner paths;<\/p>\n

No right to be understood and appreciated; no, not by those upon whom He had poured out a double portion of His love;<\/p>\n

No right even never to be forsaken by His Father, the One who meant more than all to Him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

His only right was silently to endure shame, spitting, blows; to take His place as a sinner at the dock; to bear my sins in anguish on the cross.<\/p>\n

He had no rights. And I?<\/p>\n

\n

A right to the “comforts” of life? No, but a right to the love of God for my pillow.<\/p>\n

A right to physical safety? No, but a right to the security of being in His will.<\/p>\n

A right to love and sympathy from those around me? No, but a right to the friendship of the One who understands me better than I do myself.<\/p>\n

A right to be a leader among men? No, but the right to be led by the One to whom I have given my all, led as is a little child, with its hand in the hand of its father.<\/p>\n

A right to a home, and dear ones? No, not necessarily; but a right to dwell in the heart of God.<\/p>\n

A right to myself? No, but, oh, I have a right to Christ<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
All that He takes I will give;
\nAll that He gives will I take;
\nHe, my only right!
\nHe, the one right before which all other rights fade into nothingness.
\nI have full right to Him;
\nOh, may He have full right to me!<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I finished reading a short book today that was recommened to me by a retired missionary that spoke at my church recently. The book is titled Have We No Rights? and was written by Mabel Williamson, a missionary to China in the first half of the last century. The book deals with the believer’s “rights” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[21,68],"class_list":["post-170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-general","tag-bookreview","tag-missions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andyanglea.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andyanglea.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andyanglea.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andyanglea.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andyanglea.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/andyanglea.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andyanglea.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andyanglea.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andyanglea.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}