“I deserve a pay raise.”
“I’m tired of being single, I have sought God and purity, so why hasn’t He brought a spouse in my life?”
“This isn’t fair that they are in front of me; I was in line first.”
“My family and friends don’t deserve to experience the pain and suffering they’re in.”
“I work so hard for my family. I deserve time off and have no responsibilities when I get home.”
“I’ve been diligent with my finances. I deserve to buy what I want for a change.”
“I deserve to have children, so why am I struggling with infertility? After all, aren’t children a blessing from God?”
The list goes on and on with the many things we, as humans feel entitled to. Entitlement is the belief that we have earned or deserve specific privileges, special treatments, or that we have the right to something. It can subtly creep into every aspect of our lives. It is rampant. It makes us self-absorbed. It convinces us that we deserve more and God owes us things.
This issue of entitlement isn’t new at all. We see it in the Bible:
Joshua 17, describes the land disbursement to the various tribes of Israel. It was distributed by lot (like drawing names from a hat). The leaders believed that God determined who received what portion of land. In this chapter, the tribe of Manasseh felt they were entitled to more land than they were originally given.
In verse 14, the people of Joseph said, “Why have you given us only one allotment and one portion for an inheritance? We are a numerous people and the Lord has blessed us abundantly.” They don’t stop there, but continue, “The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who live in the plain have iron chariots, both those in Beth Shan and its settlements and those in the Valley of Jezreel.”
Their arguments for more land are: We are a numerous people who were abundantly blessed and the people who live in the valley are too strong.
On the surface it sounds like a fair request. However, the truth is the tribe of Manasseh was really the sixth largest tribe of the twelve and had already been given a very large lot of land. It would have been more understandable if others had been the ones complaining! Even though they had the most land given to them, they were only focused on themselves and how they didn’t like the fact that their lot fell near the hands of the Canaanites. Therefore, they believed they deserved more.
Although entitlement has been going on for a long time and seems to only be getting more prevalent, we see two things in the Bible. We see that as broken human beings, we are actually entitled to one thing: death, spiritual separation from God. (Romans 3:23) The other thing we see is that God is the only one that is entitled to everything and all things.
Yet, in striking fashion, Christ has laid down His entitlements so that we might share in His glory. Paul reminds us so beautifully in Philippians 2:5-8:
“Having this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
So, where is the hope in the mess of our heart condition and entitlement mindset? It’s in Jesus. Our entitled hearts can hope and rest in Him. The reality is that He has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). That allows us in freedom to bring those feelings of entitlements and bring them to His throne of grace as we look to Him.
I’m challenged by this and the entitlements that I strongly feel on a daily basis. I can’t help but look to this part of my life because my desire and command as a follower of Jesus, is to imitate Christ. I’m thankful that God didn’t give us what we deserved but made a way for us through Jesus. I’m thankful that there is this void within us that is unsatisfied and that we don’t get everything we want in life. It points us to Him, the only One that can fully satisfy us.