Entitlement

Her insistence on gratification

Girl-Gone-Wild: Demands Gratification
Girl-Gone-Wise: Forfeits Gratification

Girl-Gone-Wild: “Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.” Proverbs 7:18

Girl-Gone-Wise: She denies herself and take up her cross daily and follows Jesus. Luke 9:23

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Last year, an Eritrean Christian woman, Azieb Simon, died of malaria in the Wi’a Military Training Center after being imprisoned and tortured for months. In Saudi Arabia, a member of the religious police cut his college daughter’s tongue off and burned her to death for converting Christianity. A 20-year-old Christian Pakistani woman, Sandul, falsely accused of ripping pages from the Quran, was thrown into jail after an angry mob from the local mosque threw stones and set fire to her home. In Iran, 30-year-old Marzieh and 27-year-old Maryam became very ill after languishing for months in a prison notorious for its harsh treatment of inmates. In the Shandong province of China, Christian youth camp workers, including a 16 year old, were arrested, interrogated, threatened, beaten, and kept in detention.¹ All suffered greatly because they refused to recant their faith in Jesus.
 

At a conference for ministry women in Thailand, I met many such women. They came from all over Southeast Asia and the Middle East. One was deaf in her left ear because of a bomb that attackers had thrown into her house-church several weeks earlier. Her son had narrowly escaped death. They were still picking shrapnel out of his head. Another was weary from the police constantly harassing and threatening her children. Another, a former student of mine-a brilliant woman who was working on her doctorate in theology-was planning another move. Their names were on the Chinese government’s wanted list. They had to move every 3 to 4 months when their evangelistic efforts alerted local police to their presence. They could have returned to North America, but chose not to. Another woman trembled as she worshipped, and tears poured down her face as she lifted her hands-At home, she was only able to whisper the name of Jesus, and it had been years since she was able to raise her voice and sing it aloud.

The most striking thing about all these women is not that they suffered for the name of Jesus-but that they suffered so gladly. They had the same attitude as the martyrs burned by the stake in the 1500’s. When the sheriff put the rope about Ann Audebert, she called it the wedding-sash wherewith she would be married to Christ. With joy on her face she exclaimed, “Upon Saturday I was first married, and upon a Saturday I shall be married again.” Or Elizabeth Pepper and Agnes George, who kissed and embraced the stake before they were burned. Or Elizabeth Folkes, who shouted, “Farewell all the world! Farewell faith! Farewell hope!” And taking the stake in her arms joyfully exclaimed, “Welcome love!” With fire licking and consuming her flesh, she clapped her hands for joy and raised her arms in exuberant praise.²

They were like the women in the Hebrews faith hall of fame who “received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated-of whom the world was not worthy-wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” (Hebrews 11:35-38) Or like the apostles, ten of whom were reportedly martyred by various means including beheading, by sword and spear and, in the case of Peter, crucifixion upside down following the execution of his wife.

Entitlement is the next point of contrast between a Girl-Gone-Wild and a Girl-Gone-Wise. A Wild Thing is intent on immediate gratification. She feels she has a right to be comfortable, happy, have fun, get what she wants, and indulge in all sorts of pleasures. Enjoyment, comfort, luxury, and ease are what she feels she deserves and what she constantly seeks and demands. A Girl-Gone-Wise, on the other hand, knows that the highest pleasure exists in denying self and willingly bearing the cross of Christ. She forfeits earthly gratification for the eternal joy that God has set before her. She sacrifices lesser joys for infinitely greater ones. She knows and accepts that on this side of heaven, Christian discipleship is a costly, uncomfortable, painful, and even bloody business.

It costs…

It costs to follow Jesus. Girls-Gone-Wise will pay a price for their obedience. In this culture, they will suffer for taking a stance on Christ’s teaching about gender and sexuality. Like Amy, who endured stares, snickers, and whispers after she took a stand on morality in her social science class. Or Lisa, whose friend secretly dared three males to enter a competition to get Lisa to lose her virginity. Or Samantha, who broke off her relationship with Jim because he didn’t share her conviction on sexual standards. Or Christina, who was ostracized from her church group for having views that were far too radical. Or Kimberly, whose husband tried to force her to watch pornographic movies and relentlessly mocked her when she wouldn’t.

Or Alison, who lost her job because she refused her boss’ advances. Or Rebecca, whose tires were slashed and house vandalized with graffiti when she said that homosexuality went against God’s design. Or my fellow author who was stalked because she publically took a stand on purity. Or Natalie, whose heart aches for a husband, but who refuses to settle for a man that isn’t sold out to God. Or all the women who have been mocked, scorned, ridiculed, despised, and attacked because they take the Bible’s teaching on gender and sexuality seriously. The price of obedience is suffering and self-denial. It’s costly.

Christ’s call for self-denial is radical. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) A Girl-Gone-Wise answers Christ’s call to radical obedience. Every day, she takes up her cross and resolves to follow Jesus-no matter the cost.

If there was ever a young man who knew how to self-indulge, it was the first century philosopher, Augustine. He lived a hedonistic lifestyle, drinking, partying, and sleeping around with women. He felt himself drawn to the Lord, but hesitated to become a Christian because he thought he could never live a sexually pure life. He is famous for uttering the prayer, “Lord, grant me chastity and continence, but not yet.”

Augustine was radically converted when he read Romans 13:13-14:

^“Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”

After he gave his life to Christ, he discovered, much to his surprise, that self-denial led to a far greater joy than self-indulgence ever did. The joy of Christ was sweeter than all other pleasures:

How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose! . . . You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure. . . O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation.³

Do you believe it? Do you believe that treasuring Christ holds greater pleasure than sex, wealth, power, and prestige? Are you willing to forego worldly gratification? Are you willing to self-deny and suffer so that the True and Sovereign Joy, “sweeter than all pleasure” can take the place of all lesser pleasures? It will cost. For some, it will cost a great deal. But it’s a price that a Girl-Gone-Wise is willing to pay.

© Mary A. Kassian

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This is a pre-publication excerpt from “Girls Gone Wise in a World gone Wild,” © Mary A. Kassian to be published by Moody Publishers in 2010. All rights reserved. You are welcome to link to this post, but please do not copy and/or reproduce this copyrighted material without express written permission of Moody Publishing.