Entitlement vs. Gratitude

Entitlement vs. Gratitude

       Entitlement is a volcanic topic today.  Some would have us believe that entitlement is a characteristic that is irredeemably enmeshed with race.  That, for example, all white people automatically have this innate sense of entitlement that other races do not. But I believe that there is something else at work here behind the scenes. Consider for a moment entitlement not an attribute of race but an attitude invoking a distinct lack of gratitude.  People who demonstrate, on the other hand, an attitude of humility and thankfulness overall,  race or other demographic notwithstanding, recognizing their reliance on God for what they have and their innate value and equal ground as His Creation, have less of a propensity, I believe, for living in a state of entitlement than those who deny their most BASIC identity.  To have a sense of entitlement is to share in the sin of Lucifer – to be one’s OWN God and believe, as Lucifer did - that he was entitled to receive, rather than only give, worship and adoration. Those who do not believe in God have effectively made themselves to take that place, and therefore often see themselves as deserving of all the best, blaming everyone else for their misfortunes and sense of "victimhood."  There is no inherent racial connection there, though this attitude certainly encompasses all racial groups as well as other categories of humanity. 

As a Christian, I believe that God created and delights in all races, and that no one race is inherently better than any other.  What individuals do for others, within or across races and other "categories" is what matters. They story of the "Good Samaritan" was Jesus' way of explaining this fact. The Samaritans were considered outsiders and "half-breeds" by the Jews of Jesus' time. They were hated. Jesus used this group in his illustration of what a "good neighbor" looked like, being that the "good neighbor" in the illustration was a member of this hated group, who was the only person who, passing a man who had been robbed and beaten, and left for dead, was the one who helped the man.  Jesus was tearing down divisions between people, saying, in effect, there is no "good group" or "bad group."  There are only loving and unloving individuals (of which Christians should be standing out as the former).  Likewise, when Jesus sent Peter the vision of the sheet covered with foods what were considered "unclean" for purposes of eating, instructing Peter to "kill and eat."  His point, in using the food analogy,  was to tell Peter that God had opened the door to salvation for not only Jews but also Gentiles, and therefore, no one should call "unclean" that God has made clean by His own blood given for ALL as a substitutionary sacrifice on the cross.

 This gives a lie to the opinion of those who are trying to discredit and marginalize Christians as primarily haters and bigots. Nothing could be further from the TRUTH. "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because GOD IS LOVE." (1 Jn. 4:7-8). Anyone claiming to know God and hates is a liar and the Truth is not in him. Of course, there is also the fact that not everyone who calls themselves "Christian" actually is one. We shall be known by our "FRUITS" - the way we love and behave toward others.  

Our world has gone so upside down that even, sadly, in the church, this idea has taken hold that we are a member of our race, and not of the Body of Christ, first. Paul said, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male for female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal. 4:28-29) This is not a statement of denial; Paul is not saying that these distinctions do not exist except in our minds.  He is saying that for believers, the FOCUS should be that we all belong to Christ and THAT should be our PRIMARY IDENTITY, not gender or race, ethnicity or economics.  Jesus said, (Mt. 5:9) " Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons [and daughters, implied] of God."  The apostle Paul reaffirms this message in this way:  "For he himself [Jesus] is our peace, who has made us both [referring to Jew and Gentile, the prevailing division at the time of his writing] one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility...that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace..." (Eph. 2:14, 15)

            

      Where we base our identity will determine whether we will be a peacemaker or divider. Calling names based on race or any other category – especially within the Body of Christ – is incongruous with our calling and is taking on a worldly, not a Christian, perspective.  Satan wants to divide Christians to give us a bad reputation (or to confirm for the world the reputation that we already have, which is often anything BUT Christian!).  Jesus calls us to UNITY in Him.  “…May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (Jn. 17:23), Jesus prayed in his final prayer discourse prior to His sufferering, death and resurrection.  He also chose, among his original 12 disciples, a tax collector (Levi, or Matthew as we have come to know him) and Simon (the “Zealot,”) basically sworn enemies, to demonstrate the unifying and healing effect that He had – and continues to have – on His followers. 

When we focus on Jesus, rather than popularity or politics, we can remember and return to that calling, and forego entitlement, for with that calling comes freedom from the enslavement to the opinions of others around us, and with that freedom come gratitude and peace over striving and chaos.  And that gratitude, that peace and that freedom are the opposite of enslavement and entitlement.  And when the world sees THOSE traits in us, they WILL ask us about and WANT to come to Jesus because they themselves – or many of them – are so tired of the negativity and name-calling, and looking for REST, the rest that Jesus invites us all to receive in Himself.  “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden in light.”  (Mt. 11:28-30)