entitlement

The more time I spend around people, interacting, listening, watching, etc. the more I realize that there is an increasing attitude of entitlement that people carry with them throughout their lives. It of course starts when we are young, and when we can’t get something we want, we declare definitively and often quite loudly “it’s not fair!” thus implying that if things were always fair, we would always get what we want, for the time being I will leave that inherently unwise thought process alone, that’s for another day.

But we often continue this idea that we deserve things in this life, that good things are supposed to come our way because we “deserve it” my question for that is...really? We deserve it? You deserve it? I deserve it? Of course this train of logic often ignores the other half of what we do, the things we deem as bad, we never want to claim we deserve anything related to those behaviors, just the good ones. We reach this fevered pitch defending the idea that we deserve better, that we deserve more, that we don’t deserve what we have, etc. we use this idea of entitlement – that we are somehow owed something in this life – by whom, I am not completely sure, but we use this idea to justify an amazing amount of not only immoral and integrity shattering behaviors and actions, but we continue this amazing sense of entitlement in our relationship with God. We foolishly charge the throne of the King with a list of demands that we feel we have deserved.

This is something I was already thinking about when I started studying the book of Malachi. I came upon the same theme with the Hebrews. They were in exile because they continuously refused to put God first in their lives and so they received the consequences that they had been warned about for generations. In Malachi, some were starting to return to their homeland and were turning God’s covenantal plan for them into a mere formality, something they weren’t even doing all that well even as a formality. Then in the midst of this decidedly backwards behavior they turned to God and asked him where his promises were. The response was not as they had expected;

Malachi 3 “You have wearied the LORD with your words. "How have we wearied him?" you ask. By saying, "All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them" or "Where is the God of justice?" "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years. 5 "So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty."

The Israelites felt as though they were doing their part (with a rather large helping of denial) and so where was God in doing his? They turned to God and said “hey, we went through all this suffering that you put us through by the way, we deserve to see some justice, we deserve your attention” and God turned around and said, “oh I’ll give you my attention…” and then even goes on to say “I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed” he is reminding them that they are lucky he is so faithful because they are so faithless. In the book of Malachi the people continue to push God and wonder why they are not getting that they think they deserve not realizing that God in his infinite mercy is keeping them from what they really deserve.

Which is exactly the point, Psalm 103 says, “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities”

Because he loves us so deeply God doesn’t treat us the way we deserve, we as humans, because of our inherently selfish nature deserve only one thing, death, it’s harsh, it’s a heavy thought but it is after all, what we all deserve. It is the sin in our lives that is so ingrained in the human experience that it taints everything we do and see. Sin lurks in the background everywhere, taking even our most beautiful accomplishments and marking them, the sin that leads to death.

This idea is throughout Paul’s writings in the book of Romans
Romans 6:23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord
Romans 7:5For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death
Romans 8:6The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace

There are many more, but I think I have already gone on too long. This idea of entitlement, of getting what we deserve, it’s a broken, delusional idea that has been happening since humans have been around, and I have no doubt that it will continue. I don’t think a popular saying that most of us know now was known by the Israelites but I think they certainly could have been forewarned had they known it, and I think it is something that in light of their hard learned lesson, we can also consider ourselves warned, “be careful what you wish for because you just might get it” Lucky for us, God isn’t dictated to by human adages and sayings, and I for one am filled with gratitude for that. Just something I have been thinking about...