Today’s word for the Five-Minute Friday writing community prompt is a hot button one: privilege. Google it and you’ll find endless discussions and op-ed pieces about 21st century privilege. White privilege. Rich privilege. Male privilege. In five minutes, I cannot even begin to explore this sometimes controversial concept. But it has made me explore another way, an important way, that I use the word: the privileges I have that I can share.
4 Privileges I Can Share
- A friend is hurting and calls me to share her pain. It is my privilege to listen.
- My son is seeking a career change and asks me to pray. It is my privilege to pray.
- Our local rescue mission needs canned food, boxed meals, toilet paper. It is my privilege to donate.
- Our church really needed an evening women’s Bible study. It is my privilege to serve.
It is a privilege — yes, it is a privilege — to have a Bible sitting on my desk right now. I see the gold leaf on the side, the wrinkled pages, the worn bookmarks sticking out from passages I’m reading, and I recognize that there are places in the world right now where this is not so simple. I try to remember this. Yes, it’s a privilege that I had parents and grandparents and great-grandparents who shared the message of salvation by grace.
Now, it is my privilege to do the same, to share His love and His gift of grace with all because He wants all to be saved.
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Our world is filled with so much pain that I cannot begin to fix. But it is my privilege to do simple things that make little changes. Listen. Pray. Donate. Serve.
Yes, this is my privilege and my joy.
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Photo by Allen Taylor on Unsplash
