If there’s any term that brings about disdain or
anger, it’s “entitlement mentality.” It drives most Christians I know around
the bend. There’s hardly any other attitude in our contemporary culture that
can so frustrate and irritate folk. To be clear, an entitlement mentality is a
state of mind in which an individual believes that privileges are instead rights,
and that gfits are debts…and are expected. An entitlement mentality is
frequently characterized by the following viewpoints:
It’s
a lack of appreciation of the investments and sacrifices of others. For example, those with an
entitlement mentality will sometimes criticize the military—failing to
acknowledge that it’s that same military who have died in the service of their
country, that even ensures that they are free to make such criticisms.
It’s a lack of personal responsibility. Often those with an
entitlement mentality refuse to accept personal responsibility for problems of
their own making and expect others to solve their problems. Those with an entitlement
mentality are frequently unwilling to acknowledge fault or error, and will
often devolve into denial.
It’s seen in a refusal to accept that
actions carry consequences. For example, addicts, smokers, overeaters and
those who are promiscuous want to deny that their behavioral choices have dire
outcomes.
It’s seen in a dependency on the assistance
and intervention of others to resolve self-induced personal problems. For
example, if an adult child gets into legal trouble, it’s assumed their parents
will bail them out. If someone is fired for laziness, they assume the
government will financially underwrite them, rather than taking responsibility
for the job loss or having the initiative to look for another job.
It’s seen in an attitude of ingratitude for what is given. The recipient, with no
basis, does not see a gift as a gift but rather as a debt from the giver with
the expectation that there should be more “gifts.” Essentially, it’s someone
who is focused on their rights and privileges, rather than their personal
responsibilities and obligations.
But the
entitlement mentality is so much a part of contemporary culture that many of us
are contaminated by it and don’t even know it. For example, every church and
charity I know faces this continual scenario. Someone will call them up out of
the blue that the church has never heard of and has no relationship with. Yet,
due that the fact that individual is calling a church, they believe that the
church should help them out, usually monetarily. They believe that the church
“owes” them rent or food money, though they are strangers to the church. Add to
that, the church has no way of knowing if it’s a legitimate need or if the
money will actually go for rent or food…or if it will instead go for drugs or
alcohol. Please understand that the Bible teaches that churches and Christians
should have compassion and mercy on the poor and disenfranchised, but it’s
grace, not a debt or a “right.” It’s not “owed” or should be expected.
So do you have an “entitlement mentality”? Most
of us are very quick to answer, “No.” Yet, I believe that we’ve deceived
ourselves. Most of us think that God owes us something. We probably would never
be so forthright to say that, but our actions reveal our belief system. I have
to shamefully admit that I know I’m guilty of believing that God owes me.
It’s not a
conscious decision. Yet, I find it when things in my life are not going how I
think they should go. If I have relational problems or computer or car issues
or face financial pressure, I find that I can become frustrated with my
circumstances. And in all honesty, my frustration is really with my Heavenly
Father because who do I believe is ultimately in control – God. So the bottom
line is that I somehow think He owes me and He’s not taking care of me like He
should. When I get sick or just feel bad or am depressed or sad, I can become
frustrated with God. Isn’t He supposed to make sure that I walk down Candy Cane Lane and
have the minimal amount of issues in my life? I’m entitled, aren’t I? When I
become frustrated in traffic or with slow service or shoddy workmanship, don’t
I have a right to be angry? Doesn’t God owe me?
Please
understand. I’m not suggesting that we “just take it” or be Christian doormats.
And as Americans, under our Constitutional government, we do have certain
rights. Yet, our exasperation, impatience and anger reveal our worldview that
we somehow believe we “deserve” better, that God owes us a better life.
When it
comes to God and His justice, God doesn’t owe me anything. Anything, anything
that He gives me is out of His grace and mercy. He doesn’t owe me (or you) a
great marriage, good kids or even a happy life. Those are just blessings that
in His goodness He pours out on me because of His grace. And what He owes me is
judgment yet His Son took all that for me and for you on the Cross.
We’ve missed
it. We think that God owes us something, yet the biblical fact is that we owe
God a debt that we’ll never be able to repay. Our response to God should be
what we find in Luke 17:10, “We are
unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.”
We don’t
even begin to fathom all that our sin cost God and how repugnant sin is to a
holy God. When we begin to see the hideousness of it and the love and grace of
God, Romans 12:1 begins to finally make sense, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present
your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your
spiritual worship.”
It’s when I
see my debt, my sin, and what I owe a holy God, I realize that I have no
entitlements. Instead I am overcome with gratitude, awe and worship. How can I
hold anything back when I have been graced with so much of which not a fraction
I was worthy of? How can be anything less than overwhelmingly generous with my
Heavenly Father when He has already been so generous with me?
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