A thought
by John Ortberg (2014-04-22) from his book, Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 171). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to
Amazon.com to buy the book.)
We so easily get into
this trap of entitlement. I mean even
Christians can mistakenly believe that we are entitled to stuff but all
that we have is because of His grace. John
continues this thought by saying, “and without a grateful heart the soul
suffers. Because the soul needs gratitude.”
We so easily get into
this trap of entitlement. I mean even
Christians can mistakenly believe that we are entitled to stuff but all
that we have is because of His grace. John
continues this thought by saying, “and without a grateful heart the soul
suffers. Because the soul needs gratitude.”
I find it so easy at
this Season to feel that we deserve gifts.
I mean I expect my family to give me gifts. It’s Christmas but that is not the reason for
this Season. Yes we celebrate a gift that was given but we were very
undeserving of that gift.
John continues. He says, “Here’s the deal: The more you think
you’re entitled to, the less you will be grateful for. The bigger the sense of
entitlement, the smaller the sense of gratitude. We wonder why in our world we
keep getting more and more and more and keep being less and less and less
grateful. This is precisely why. My sinful mind can convince me that anything I
want I’m entitled to, and if I’m not getting something I want, somebody in the
universe must be messing up, and they owe me, and they ought to pay for it. In
fact, this has led to a proliferation of lawsuits, because when we don’t get
something we really want, we want to sue somebody.”
Let’s stop doing
that. All that we have comes from a good
God and we do not deserve any of it, we are not entitled to it, we are loved so
He shows us that love by being good to us.
John said, “My former
colleague Bill Hybels once saw in the Newport Beach harbor in California a beautiful,
gleaming, million-dollar yacht whose name was painted in big, bold letters
across it. Its name was Deserved. Whatever I have , I deserve. Entitlement
grows deep within us. This is why, for the soul, ingratitude is not just a
psychological problem. It’s not just an impoverishment of our emotional
experience. It’s a sin. Paul says it’s the hallmark of a life opposed to God. ‘For
although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to
him, but their thinking became futile . . .’ This connection is so interesting.
Their thinking was futile. They perceived themselves to be entitled, to be
owed, not as grateful receivers of grace every moment. ‘. . . forget not all
his benefits . . .’”
So how grateful are
you?
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