Entitlements are a deadly force to the Christian life. They halt growth, hinder the kingdom of God, and are self-focused about what I want or need. When you strip away all the excuses, reasons, and self that form entitlements what you find is actually rebellion. We are in a sanctifying process growing up to be like Christ. God uses life and circumstances to bring that about. The Lord brings situations into our lives that will test our strength, perseverance, faith, and obedience.
When we allow entitlements to enter that sanctifying process we hinder the work of the Lord in us. We hinder our growth. In essence, we stop pursuing God and working for his kingdom work and turn in the other direction. I once had a pastor say that if you’re not working for God, then you’re working for the enemy. I don’t think any of us want to align ourselves with Satan, however when we allow him to speak lies of entitlements in our lives and then we embrace those entitlements and walk in them we are doing nothing but aligning our self with Satan. If we don’t want to be promoting the wrong kingdom, we must resolve to rid ourselves of those hindrances.
The functioning base of entitlements is that we put limits on what God can ask of us. I think we’d all agree that it is fundamentally wrong for us to tell the Lord what He can or can’t ask of us. What if Abraham had told God it would have been too much to leave his home? What if Esther said, “It’s too risky. I could die”? What if Ruth had stayed in Moab? What if Moses had said, “I can’t go back there?” What if Hosea refused to take back Gomer again and again? What if Joseph said, “But she’s already pregnant?” What if Paul said, “But people will call me a hypocrite?” Aren’t we glad to have a legacy of obedient saints to look to? Each one gave up their own control, fear, and desires to follow the Lord and do what he asked. Don’t forget, each of them was also blessed! Giving up our entitlements does not mean that our lives will be horrible or God will constantly ask things that seem overwhelmingly difficult for us to do.
Look at Moses, God told him to raise up his arms (or was it his staff) over the Red Sea so the people could cross. He could have said, “God this is a ridiculous idea! You want me to hold up my arms so that all the Israelites can pass? How long will that take? Don’t you know we’re being chased down by the Egyptians?” Moses knew God. He knew God, because he had been obedience to God. He trusted God. He wasn’t afraid of the task the Lord might ask of him, he knew that if God asked and he obeyed then it would be good. God had built in him faith and trust through Moses’ previous experiences. But if Moses had held onto his own ways (entitlements), then the outcome would have been drastically different. The same is for us. God will ask us to do things or give up certain things that we feel will be uncomfortable, hard, or even impossible, but they are not. If we follow in obedience and give up our entitlements we will be blessed, and more importantly we will be growing the kingdom and bringing glory to God! Amen.
In the next few days, I’ll be adding some more practical application of what entitlements look like and how to pursue ridding them from our lives. Remember, that entitlements aren’t just a hindrance to God’s work, but they also hinder the freedom and joy that God designed us to live in. Trust God, pursue freedom.
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