Give Me, Give Me and It's Not Fair

The pastor's sermon hit me right where I needed it.  It hit my pride and my sense of entitlement.  It challenged my beliefs.  It refocused my heart on truth.  It went against everything our culture preaches to me.

He talked about our sense of entitlement as human beings.  We become too great in our own eyes without realizing it, after all we're Americans and there are things we have a right to have in order to be happy and content with life and with God:  things like a fair income, a nice house, a closet full of clothes, meals on the table and a filled pantry, the number of kids we want, a happy marriage, vacations, a reliable car, etc.  We worship and trust God when things are going well, but when difficult or horrific things happen, suddenly our faith is shaken.  We question God's character.  We silently question if God really does love us.  We wonder if he loves us less now because of something we did.

We forget that His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.  We forget that God sees the whole picture while we barely can focus on the step right in front of us.  We forget that He has already given us EVERYTHING through Jesus' death on the cross.  Everything else in life is just an added blessing and gift.  God owes us NOTHING.  We are mere humans.  Just the air we breathe is a gift yet we get ourselves in such a huff when life gets hard or we don't get our way.

How quickly we forget and take for granted the RICHES we have in our salvation.  If we had nothing on this earth, we still have, through Jesus, hope of eternal life in paradise, forgiveness of sins, a righteous standing before Almighty God, a Savior who loves us no matter what, an intimate relationship with the God of the universe, and unending grace.  We are wrapped in his majesty, clothed with strength and dignity, adopted as God's daughter, set apart for a grand purpose. chosen and set free from sin's bondage.

Yet, our culture preaches that contentment is found in an easy life style, fair wages, the American dream, etc.  I am so guilty of feeling self-entitled.  I think I know it all when really I know nothing.  When things don't go my way, I feel entitled to whine and complain.  I cry, "But I deserve _______.  I've worked so hard!"

But do I deserve anything?  When I say, "I lay myself down before You, God," do I hold exceptions to that in my heart?  I surrender all except my children, my dreams, my income, my house, my _________."

If all was stripped away from me, could I still be joyful because I have Jesus?  The truth is that the better I understand who God is and how much He loves me, the more quickly and boldly I could answer "yes."  As a mere human on earth, I have such a shallow understanding of who God is and His great love for me.  Through the good and the bad, God is still God. 

He is calling me to come closer to Himself.  There is more to learn about Him than there is time left on this earth.  The depths of His love and goodness are unfathomable. The more I lose of myself, the more I gain of Him.  What joy is mine to behold my beautiful Savior.  He is mine and nothing can separate me from his love.  May it be for me that if all else was stripped away, I would still find my all Him and praise His holy name. 

How about you?  Are you feeling entitled to something you don't have right now?  Are you feeling discontented?  Press in closer to Jesus.  Let him satisfy your soul.  In his perfect way and in his perfect timing, he can and will fill every longing of your heart.