As Americans, we are rightly concerned with individual rights and freedoms. Our country was founded to escape tyrannical governments. We have embedded in our Constitution and Bill of Rights measures to protect and ensure our freedoms. I am profoundly thankful for those.

However, I believe that these rights have become gods to us in these modern times. We have elevated individual rights above concern for others. We have been worshipping at the god of self and have forgotten the Imago Dei in us and others.

An article in Christian Century quotes legal scholar Mary Ann Glendon who calls this “the illusion of absoluteness.” In her 1991 book Rights Talk, she points out that when talk of rights turns absolute it inhibits conversation, silences responsibility, and downplays obligation toward the common good.

Rights are important. I value them and want to protect them. I am thankful to live in this country and pray we will continue to value our freedom. Scripture, however, downplays individual rights. Listen to Paul in Philippians 2:

3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus

Scripture constantly reminds us to love God and to love our neighbor. We are called to lay down our lives for each other, to walk in humility, and to esteem others as more important than ourselves. All of this is rooted in the idea of the Imago Dei. To see the Image of God in each person is to understand that as we love each other, we are loving God.

The article in Christian Century goes on:

Rights are certainly important. But there’s a reason the Bible shows little interest in individual rights. If I see my life primarily as a prepackaged set of guaranteed rights owed me, instead of as a gift of God, what motivation is there to feel deep obligation toward society’s most vulnerable? If I’m just receiving what’s my rightful due, why would I ever need to express gratitude? What’s the point of looking outward toward others if I’m chiefly responsible for looking inward and securing the personal rights that are mine?

I hear in those words the echo of 1 Corinthians 4 where Paul asks – What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?

Fixating on rights at the expense of love, mercy, and compassion is always wrong. May the Lord give us eyes to see the Imago Dei in each person that we meet. At no point are we freer than when we willingly and joyfully limit the expression of our freedom for the sake of another. This should inform our worship, both daily and corporately.