Entitlement

I hear people say often they believe the younger generation in this country should be called the entitlement generation because they believe they are entitled to anything they want. They should be entitled to a free education, the type of job they want, the car they wish to drive, the type of clothing they like to wear, etc.

Is entitlement a new desire? Did it happen because this generation has been told to expect things? When did this start? Is there a cause we can assign to the feeling of entitlement? According to Webster, entitlement is, “The belief that one is inherently deserving of something”.  That is not a problem only for this generation. Satan has been whispering that from the beginning.

As I pondered this thought, I thought of stories from the Bible of people feeling entitled. It started with Adam and Eve and the temptation in the Garden. Their actions challenged what they had been told; don’t eat from that tree. However, we know they did. Why? The Israelites in the dessert believed they were entitled to more than manna; they deserved meat. They got so much quail it made them sick. Why? David, as king, thought he was entitled to take another man’s wife, Bathsheba. Why?

Then I thought of the opposite stories. Abraham being told by God to sacrifice his son; the child promised to him by God. He chose to obey and was rewarded with a miracle. Joseph oversaw everything in Potiphar’s house, but refused the temptation of Potiphar’s wife.

Looking at these stories, it came to me that the thought of entitlement is one of Satan’s tool for temptation. Think again of these stories. Satan planted the seed of entitlement and these people chose to either fall to the temptation or refuse it.

Doesn’t it boil down to our sin nature, being self-focused. If we feel we deserve something we haven’t been given or deserve something because someone else has one, aren’t we saying what God has given us isn’t adequate? If we are not happy with our lot in life, aren’t we saying God isn’t being fair to us? Doesn’t the feeling of entitlement open the pathway to sin and ultimately lead us to believe that God does not care about us?

Satan is a master at using our emotions to lead us away from Biblical principle. Like Eve, Satan gets us wondering about what we believe to be true; “Surely you won’t die”. Once he gets us in the fog, only the Spirit can lead us out. We are not wise enough to do it ourselves. I have discovered a simple rule to help me in the times of the fog. “When in doubt, don’t.” You will not put your foot in a snare if you wait for the Spirit to lift the fog.