Entitlement.
A word that makes any “real man” sick to his stomach.
We look around and see jobless men who feel entitled to a paycheck, spineless men who feel entitled to respect, and conviction-less men who feel entitled to an opinion.
Identifying these men and prescribing corrections can feel pretty easy:
Get a job.
Have a spine.
Stand on your convictions.
These types of entitled men are everywhere. Targeting them is low-hanging fruit.
Let’s place a mirror in front of our faces and deal with our own entitlement.
“But which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down to eat’? But will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and, clothing yourself properly, serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’? Is he grateful to the slave because he did the things which were commanded? In this way, you also, when you do all the things which are commanded of you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.”
- Luke 17:7-10
In this passage, Jesus is challenging the nature of His disciples' desire for recognition and reward for what they have done for God. He is stomping out their carnal entitlement.
They loved being rewarded. So do we.
We thrive on being honored for what we say and do. Taking out the trash or administering proper discipline to our children leads to expecting rewards from our wives. Coaching a team to victory means accolades. Solving a problem at work ought to get us an approving writeup from the manager.
But what Jesus pits against this desire is the hard-to-swallow truth that we are entitled to precisely nothing.
“As it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one:”
- Romans 3:10
Scratch that. We are certainly entitled to something. You know what we are actually entitled to? The curses of unrighteousness. Properly understanding what we truly deserve should leave no room for entitlement.
How do we slip into the entitlement mindset as born-again sons of God? By believing that the things we are doing are being done in our own power.
We slide down this slope without realizing it because it’s a very simple and common slope. We become hardened to the power of the Almighty working in everything around us. We rely on our own strength instead of walking with a limp like Jacob. We forget to rest in Christ.
Identify this spiritual entitlement in yourself.
Attack it.
Put your boot on its neck until it dies.
How?
By becoming a slave.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life
-Romans 6:20-22
I know. I get it. The Spirit of 1776 cries out against any talk of submission to anyone. We love freedom and independence.
Chattel slavery in the early years of this country had to be destroyed forever, confined to the wretched ash heap of history. But that history should not color our understanding of the meaning of Good Slavery.
Everyone is a slave of something. The iPhone, Facebook, their employer, their money, etc.
The statement we should be willing to wear on our chests, written on cardboard like a crazed street corner evangelist: “I am a slave of Jesus Christ. Whose slave are you?”
That way, when anything good comes from our lives, it is our Master, and our Master alone, who gets the glory.
How do we do this?
Recognize that the only things we do that carry any eternal significance are empowered by God the Holy Spirit. Maximum humility is necessary. All of the failure is on us, and all of the success and glory goes to Him.
Your patience with your kids? Comes from the Spirit.
Your evangelistic efforts in the workplace bearing any fruit? Work of the Spirit.
Selflessly loving your wife? Only possible through the Spirit.
Enduring trials and despair? You know the answer.
None of this implies that we should never be rewarded in this life for being faithful. God loves to bless his children. It’s about having a mindset of, “I don’t deserve anything, so everything I have is already a blessing.”
Let’s flee spiritual entitlement like the temptation it is, and—
“Work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” - Philippians 2:12-13
Praise and Arrows.