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Thursday, June 6, 2013

The Danger of Entitlement

I am sharing a post today from Greg Simas titled The Danger of Entitlement and How Its Message Is Impacting Your Personal Life, Church Life and Walk with God.

I believe this post nails the problem with our culture today and is why a lot of children of God cannot see the hand of God moving in their lives and maybe the reason lots of people are leaving or struggling with their faith.

Here is a little snippet from Greg's post, you can read the rest by clicking on the link above or HERE.

We are bombarded by business, advertising and government with the “entitlement” message. This message is engrained in our culture and absorbed into virtually every fabric of society. Though you might not know what entitlement is, it is safe to say that its message is eating away at your personal life, church life and your relationship with the Lord.

I’m not interested in discussing broad business and governmental entitlements. I am focusing on what I see as a growing entitlement attitude that is pervasive throughout much of the church. This is my humble opinion for whatever it’s worth. And I want to let you all know that I write as one who is hugely impacted by the entitlement message but trying to loosen its grip on my life.

The Business of Entitlement

When advertisers say we are “entitled” to something it means that we have a “right to” or “deserve” it. For instance, “you owe it to yourself” to take that cruise or you “deserve”, that new gadget or car.

You’ve earned it. You deserve it. You owe it to yourself to have it. These statements are at the heart of the entitlement message.




Head over to Greg's blog and read the rest, it is very interesting. 

Blessings,
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10 comments:

  1. Hi child of God,
    I could never live by the 'entitlement' law. That would, I feel, make me like a spoilt child who would be in danger of forgetting what grace and favour are all about. Where would faith and the necessity to believe fit in then? It is by first seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness that all my needs are met, not because I deserve it or are entitled to it.

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    1. Hi Brenda,
      What a great attitude to have. :)
      Father wants to give us good gifts and spoil us with love. He wants to provide for us and some He gives more than others for His purpose and for His blessings.

      This entitlement is oozing it's way into the church and new believers and old alike are believing that God will give them all they ask for. It is a twist on Scripture. Yes, God does answer prayer and give to those who ask but He doesn't answer according to our idea but to His. His answer of prayer, as you know, sometimes results with a very sorrowful outcome.

      Blessings sister, thanks for commenting.
      <><

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    2. Hi Sweetie,

      That is a perfect verse and a lovely picture.

      This post makes me think. (always a good thing, LOL)...I am tempted to say that I do not feel entitled...but maybe I need to look a bit deeper. It is part of my personality to not make a big deal about things like my birthday, or other events that you expect to recieve a gift for etc...but maybe in terms of how people think about me...hmmm, sometimes I wonder if I maybe feel I do not need to earn their favor...when I believe things like friendship, trust and favor must be earned...OK, now I am going to go and think about this thing called entitlement some more...and I should visit your link too.
      ~Blessings and love~

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    3. Hi Lisa,
      The verse was the one Greg used in his post, but the pic is mine. :)

      The entitlement that is being referred to here is what people feel God owes them. I only posted a snippet of Greg's post, so you really do need to read the whole post to know what he is saying. I hope you have a chance to read it as it is really good and yes, it really makes one think.

      Blessings hon,
      <><

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  2. The wages of sin is death - that's what we're entitled to. But it's wonderful that grace gives us a title to God's greatest blessings in Christ.

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    1. Hi David,
      Yes, that is what we are entitled to, death and eternal separation from God. Praise God for sending His Son Jesus! And praise Jesus for being obedient to Father and dying for our sins!

      Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment.
      <><

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  3. Hi Child of God,
    Thank you for sharing this with us. I remember back before I was saved, I was deeply in debt. One of the things crossing my mind was, "if I will come to Jesus, then God will get rid of this debt for me." But praise God, when I first started attending church, I set under solid Biblical teaching and quickly realized this kind of thinking just was not right. I am so happy that I did not set under someone teaching, come to Jesus and you will be healthy, wealthy and wise. Instead, I learned the truth. I am sure if I was learning from this prosperity gospel junk, I would be no longer in any church. Not only is this entitlement things affecting the church, but also society. Our governments are being bled dry because we vote in people who will give us the most benefits.
    May God bless you,
    Ken

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    1. Hi Ken,
      Thank you for sharing this.
      Praise God for sound, biblical teaching that you received when you first started going to church!!
      The first time I was introduced to the entitlement thinking towards God was a few years back when I attended a church service at a church while the family and I were doing a bit of traveling. The pastor told all those in the service that were suffering financial dept to raise their hands because God was going to bless them and remove this dept from them. Then he told the rest of us to approach someone close to us whose hands were raised and lay hands on them. He then told us to pray blessings over them and for God to release them from this dept.
      I found it strange and odd because I just couldn't remember any Scripture verses that mentioned this, but we did it and I have no idea whether or not the couple that we prayed over was blessed, because we left the next day.
      I know that praying blessings is Scriptural and seeking God for these things is what He wants us to do but to expect Him to do things according to how we want them done is not correct and is like ordering God around. It makes me think about the people Jesus fed. There was a huge crowd of people He provided for yet His true followers were few.

      Society is selfish and you pointed out a great example of it, who we vote into our government. We want more and more and more...the root of evil is money. :(

      Thanks for such a great comment Ken.
      Blessings brother,
      <><

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  4. I was listening to the news today, they were talking about congress rejecting a law that Obama wants passed regarding healthcare, and they said it was the 37th time it was rejected, and someone (speaker of the House? not sure) said "When will you learn??? How many more times will we have to go through this???" (or something to that effect) but it had me thinking that they are going to keep hammering people with this thing that most people don't want, and keep pushing and pushing until people give up and give in....and I thought that we have the separation of powers (executive, legislative and judicial) to keep from an abuse of powers? This seems like abuse to me. I can't help but think this is unconstitutional. I was listening to one of my favorite SermonAudio pastors (David Dykstra) preach on Luke 12 about the parables of the second coming, and something he said goes with what you say in this blog entry...he said: (not word for word, but along these lines): "When the Lord returns people will be consumed with eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage and not give one single thought to being thankful to Him". I told my husband about it and said "We are living in that day. Our day is just like the days of Lot and the days of Noah"... I personally believe that Jesus is coming very very soon. :)

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    1. Hi Susan,
      Sure reminds me of a persistent child that wants something so bad they bug you until you give in. It sure is sad knowing the lack of respect for each other and the pushiness to persist in something that has already been said, 'no' to is becoming the normal way of doing things in today's day. The code of honour has gone out with the wash. :(

      I too believe Jesus is coming very soon and I anxiously await Him! Praise GOD!!

      Here is a link to the second post in 'The Danger of Entitlement'. http://gregsimas.org/the-danger-of-entitlement-5-ways-to-loosen-its-grip-on-our-lives

      Thanks for visiting Susan.

      Blessings,
      <><

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