Tag: entitlement

Entitlement

 Jeremiah 7-9 

Whether it’s social media, the news, gossip about the neighbor down the road, we seem to hear the term “entitlement” a lot these days. For whatever reasons, some people think they deserve preferential treatment. We could blame social media for what seems to be an uptick in this kind of behavior, and to some extent, that might be true. However, we do find in today’s reading, that entitlement goes back a really long time. 

In chapter 7, we see Judah believed that because they lived on the land of the Lord’s Temple, they were invincible. This belief caused them to become so bold that they begin committing crimes and worshiping other gods and then going directly to the temple to “worship” God (7:9-11) As if that were not bad enough, in verse 30, the people seem to have skipped the middle man and just went ahead and set up their idols and worse in the temple (7:30) They were truly entitled, thinking their lineage and perfunctory worship was enough. 

But of course, God sees all this. I like how the Message version puts it, “I’ve got eyes in my head. I can see what’s going on.” God even tells them that they can go ahead and eat the sacrifices they offered because they are now meaningless to Him (7:21). 

Throughout the rest of our reading, God tells the people through Jeremiah, what He has seen. 

Yet amazingly, woven throughout the description of sins and their consequences, God lays out what they need to do to be saved from destruction. 

Reform from your ways and your actions and I will let you live in this place (7:3). 

Obey me and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you (7:23-24). 

But let him who boasts boast about this, that he understands and knows Me. That I am the Lord who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth for in those I delight, declares the Lord. (9:24) 

Well, not so much in chapter 8…that’s mostly promised punishments. Yikes! 

As Christians we know that we are not entitled to anything. We are not entitled because of our lineage in the church, the amount of time or finances we give, or even all the lessons we teach. We are only entitled to salvation through the grace of God through Christ. And Praise the Lord for that! 

Prayer: 

Dear Lord, 

Please never let us get so complacent in our worship that it becomes meaningless to You. Let us walk in obedience that you may be our God and we will be your people. 

In Christ’s precious name, 

Amen 

-Maria Knowlton

Reflection Questions

  1. Where have you seen entitlement – in society, Scripture, your life?
  2. Is there anything in your life that you have been pretending that God does not see? He sees. Stop pretending and talk to God about it.
  3. Do you think the Lord delights in you? How have you seen God’s kindness, justice and righteousness to you or others (9:24)? What are you still looking forward to?
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Can the Entitlement – Serve Some Mercy Instead

Free Theme – Beatitudes – Matthew 5:7

Matt 5 7 nasb

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and got to spend time with family and friends. I know in larger families it can be a real battle for food! I hope everyone got plenty turkey and their favorite side dish.

Yesterday we all celebrated what we were thankful for and it is super appropriate for today’s beatitude that we have this thankfulness in mind. It is amazing how easy it is for me to forget how good God has been to me. One day, like yesterday. I can dwell on God’s sacrifice of his son for all my sins and how he suffered through all my rebellion. He can get over all the times that I have hurt him via my sin in our relationship. He steadily pursues us and extends us grace for actions that no human being would ever forgive. He has ALWAYS taken me back when I came back from being a prodigal. He has never given up on me despite my poor character and my inabilities. He continually sees a value in me that I don’t see in myself. He has given me family, friends and relationships that I completely do not deserve. The older I get the more I see how messed up I really am just as a human being and God’s mercy behind it. The amazing thing is he still sees value in me and adopts me as his child. He still extends mercy and grace to me in spite of it all.

Sometimes I think that just saying “God is good” or worse yet using the cliché “God is good, All the time” doesn’t do any justice or come anywhere near to expressing exactly how good God is. It feels like all words and vocabulary fail to fully express all God has done. Maybe that is why all we‘re left with is “God is good”.

The crazy thing is that his mercies really are new every morning (Lamentations 3.22-23). Everyday I wake up and breathe; God supplies the air (Isaiah 42.5). He supplies us everything that we have. Our jobs, houses, cars, cell phone, internet, toys, entertainment, the plants, the trees, the turkey – it all belongs to him. He made it, he created it, therefore it is all his. We often forget that we are in somebody else’s house and nothing here actually belongs to us. It’s frankly embarrassing the entitlement and lack of gratefulness that I allow in my life. If there was a way to keep all this in our brains 24/7 we would be the happiest people alive. We should be the happiest people alive.

Our beatitude for today is Matthew 5.7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

I already feel like I have received the mercy that is promised here. Sometimes I am amazed at how good we have it in this life. Still I let my gratefulness get drowned out by a sense of entitlement towards God. When in reality he owes me absolutely nothing and everything that he has already given me is far more than I can repay.

Given all that I just talked about and how merciful God has been to us, I think we should extend that to others. If we live with this knowledge imprinted on our hearts it should actually be easy. There really is a redemptive quality to God’s love that allows us to forgive others. To show them grace when they absolutely don’t deserve it. We don’t have to be concerned about righteousness when we show mercy to those around us because we know that God has forgiven us for far more than anything a person could have done to us.

It’s this principle that I believe is our light to the world. We show mercy to those who don’t deserve mercy and love those who don’t love us because there is one who loves us far more. So, let’s have this attitude of gratefulness and let it overflow from our hearts to those around us. Forgiving and loving others the way that God has for us.

Daniel Wall