Entitled!

Today, a generation is brought up who feel that they have a sense of entitlement, where everything they need or want is owed to them. The idea is that many people feel like they have been mistreated when they don’t get what they want. From a biblical perspective, it is clear that this type of attitude is a heart condition primarily due to pride, which is a sin. Proverbs 16:18 proclaims, “Pride goes before destruction, and hautiness before a fall.”

In today’s society, people say things like, “Why should I work for what I can get for free?” The problem is that this mentality continues to be passed down generation after generation, and the devil is using it as a tool to cause continual sin to infiltrate from generation to generation. 

I cannot tell you how many experiences I have experienced as a Pastor, where people seemed so unappreciative and had an attitude that people or the church owed them something. Entitlement is displayed on billboards and through television media outlets, including the internet, and statements such as “you’ve earned it and deserve it; therefore, you ought to have it” is being fed to the people.

Entitlement creates a self-centered, inward-focused person. When this happens, we feel like we don’t deserve to say “thank you” or “you’re welcome” when we get what we want. God and even the people who care about us become reduced to someone who helps us get what we feel entitled to.

A sense of entitlement is not an attribute of God. God doesn’t owe us anything, and we don’t deserve anything. The good news is that although God owes us nothing, out of His incredible love, He gives us what we need and even many things we desire in life, but He is not entitled to do that.

When we live with a sense of entitlement, we fall into a devilish trap where gratitude and thanksgiving are replaced with pride and envy. Do you show appreciation and gratitude for friends, church family, and the blessings that God has placed in your life?

Romans 1:21 “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”