I feel a rant coming on and that probably means I should text TM first so she can nail me down a bit but I think this time I am just gonna let it fly.
Is it just me or does anyone else find that Christians can be one of the most selfish entitled groups of people on the planet?
Sure that's blunt but at least give me a second to unwrap that.
It seems like we have faith and entitlement somehow intertwined in a way that it's not meant to be.
I'm gonna look up entitlement in the dictionary just to see exactly what it says....
en·ti·tle
n-tahyt-l] Show IPA
verb (used with object), en·ti·tled, en·ti·tling.
1.
to give (a person or thing) a title, right, or claim to something;furnish with grounds for laying claim: His executive positionentitled him to certain courtesies rarely accorded others.
3.
to designate (a person) by an honorary title.
So it looks like I'm referring to the first definition. This says "to give" a person or thing, but I think problem #1 is that we don't wait to be given anything. We give it to ourselves. We demand it from others. And so what do we give ourselves? We give ourselves titles, rights, and we claim things.
- I should have that.
- I'm a Prophet so you should honor me.
- I should be allowed to get something without having to give.
etc
What that ends up looking like is arrogance. We think we have rights to things and titles. We qualify our entitlement with faith. "I'm just believing for this." or "I sense this in the Spirit" THEN we disqualify ourselves from any human responsibility because don't you know???.... I'm entitled!
Ever known anyone who works in the service industry? Specifically food industry? Do you know that the most dreaded day for them to work is a Sunday? You know why? Cause they say that the restaurants are full of Christians and that means low - no tips. And why don't we tip? We feel entitled to service without having to give back? I don't know I'm just asking, rather stating with a question.
If we were to see this behavior in our kids we would call them.... wait for it... spoiled! And really that's what we are like.
We think we deserve things, are owed things. (and I'm not saying that we don't! for the record!) But regardless of faith, there is still the principle of sowing and reaping. If we want respect, walk worthy of respect. If we want understanding, seek to understand.
Its as though we can say "well I'm just believing for this" and then somehow that disqualifies us from any human responsibility. And then to top it off we are lucky enough that when things go wrong we can just blame the devil. So all around, we have managed to create for ourselves a pretty responsible free environment.
We would never say it because we would look like a 2 year old on the floor in Walmart (what's UP with that?!) but inside we have this attitude of "well I just should have this. I deserve this. I shouldn't have to give anything, praise God." We literally think that both God and man owe us something.
David Ruis used to always talk about how he lived open handed and it impacted me tremendously. I thought this - what if we lived as though no one owed us ANYTHING. (Just follow me for a sec) What if no one owed us loyalty, friendship, service, honor, etc? Can you imagine how our attitudes would change? Suddenly when someone gives you loyalty, rather than thinking "darn rights she owes me that!" you would think "that's a real gift and I'm thankful for it and I recognize that she doesn't have to give me that but choses to." It creates thanksgiving and that is one of the opposites of entitlement.
By all means, have faith, believe for whatever you'd like, but let's carry ourselves with grace and thanks, being willing to give the very thing that we want from others. Let's not stomp the ground and cross our arms and expect to be served. Rather let's attempt to stumble our way along the path of humility and thanksgiving.
Don't you just wonder what happened to inspire that rant?
Great word truth is often hard; letters of Paul and the Book of James confirm that. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteIt has helped me in ministry to remember that we are humans, fallible, yet loved. Ever try the sneaky tip because someone you are out with leaves a lousy tip? One of our favorite dining experiences was asking the waitress if we could anonymously pay a serviceman's bill. In my church, we don't go for "just believing for this or that". However, I have downloaded some of your freebies, so maybe the stick is poking in my eye.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree. I have a very good Christian friend who's also a successful businessman. He shocked me the one day when he said he'd rather do business with a Muslim or an atheist than a Christian as with the first two he's more likely to actually get paid!
ReplyDeleteyes!
ReplyDeleteExpectation vs. desire. Expecting a service, for example, and getting it is way less satisfying than desiring it and getting it. We've set ourselves up to lose. I hear this rant!! Given the choice, I would rather spend time with genuine, honest (even if the truth is ugly), and loving people rather than those who will always put themselves first, and are arrogant and fake. The good news is that I believe (hope!!) that people are recognizing this attitude in the church... And identifying means making changes.. Right??
ReplyDeleteFortunately, I don't know many Christians who act out the entitlement thing, but I've noticed the last several years there just seems to be a lack of genuine love going around - I know we are falling way short of "they will know us by our love".
ReplyDeleteI really think it's just more of people absorbing the spirit of the world (especially U.S.) which has gone entitlement-crazy across the whole population.
In north America, we sort of share the Gospel from the perspective of what you get (salvation, healing, friendship, etc.) - in the 10/40 window, it's more like what's it going to cost you (your job, your possessions, your family, your life). I think we need a wake up call...
Thanks for your voice, Heather.
By the way, I always tip at least 20%. - Gretchen