entitlements

Today we were talking about entitlements. I think of it as the world-view mindset that says "you owe it to me".

Here is a way of thinking that seems like it would satisfy the longings of our soul but, in fact, is a never ending cycle of dissatisfaction.

Imagine never having to work for anything and always being given what you want while living a life of luxury and play. Someone provides your spa and your gourmet dinner and drives you to your croquet game in a black limo and holds your mallet so you have a free hand to carry your refreshments around the lawn. Or more realistically, someone pays your electric bill and your doctor bill and buys your groceries and never requires your participation or expects you to contribute in any way. Imagine thinking like this and truly believing this is proof of love.

I wish this were an exaggeration but it's not. This is a pervasive mindset in our modern culture. Its not often spoken of in such blatant examples, but a current generation, young and old, think like this. It isn't too many more steps until we give our all to a "Big Brother" as long as he will keep us in the stuff.

But this comment today is not about Big Brother or the anti-Christ. Rather, the deepest longing of the soul that searches for satisfaction in things that cannot satisfy. In conversations like this, even the mere suggestion that entitlement thinking is a spiritual problem is received with offense and contempt. This should come as no surprise, since any time the Word of God presses against the carnal mind there is "war".

Entitlement existence and thinking is really a disconnect from the Life of God since the mindset is opposed to His ways. Entitlement says, "me first, why not?; you owe it to me." Jesus said and says, "Give, expecting nothing in return." But there are returns, because He is generous.

In an attempt to sense the Real Love and acceptance of God an entire culture has blindly turned to the lame nurture of government, media, employers, self-seeking friends, and dysfunctional family. Even the best attempts of these finite institutions fail in the end.

Nobody owes nobody nothin'. But God gives us all things freely. And that's the simple point. The gaping canyon of need for love and fulfilment will never be filled with the stuff of this life; no matter how many programs you throw in or how much money is dumped or how many empty "I love you"s are echoed. The need stops with a surrendered heart. Longing fulfilled.