Check Up

Gal. 6:^4-5 “Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.  For we are each responsible for our own conduct.”

Entitlement robs us of our gratitude. Even in your relationship with your spouse, your children, your colleagues, any time you feel entitled to something, you need to stop and check because it will rob you of your gratitude. There are two basic mind sets [attitudes] with entitlement and the first is; I am exempt from responsibility. The people that feel entitled, either consciously or unconsciously say, ‘I am exempt from responsibility, it is not my fault!’ ‘It is my father’s fault; he did not pay my school fees, so I struggled in school.’ Now you are an adult with a family, and you are still blaming your father. ‘It is not my fault that I am a wife-beater. My father beats my mother, so I am entitled to beat my wife.’

If you feel entitled to your relationship you cannot be grateful for your wife. In my early years in ministry, I did some things that I probably would not do now. For example, there was this lady whose husband was beating her, I brought the man into the office, shut the door, rolled my sleeves, and jacked him up. I said, ‘If you touch this girl again, I will beat you up.’ And that was the last day he beat her. Should Pastors be doing that? That was what I did then. Most times when we feel we are exempt from responsibility, we behave in strange ways. When people begin to claim it is not their fault, it is an entitlement mentality, and it cripples. When you say, ‘it is not my fault. I am not responsible for what I say to you or how I impact you. I can behave anyhow; it is your business how you feel.’ That is an entitlement mentality.

The second mind set is similar but different and it is I am owed special treatment or I deserve special treatment. There are people that feel that because they are present, everyone should be happy. I showed up in the office today, you should be happy that I am here. There are people that get to the office early and they feel you should be grateful. Some people do their job, and they expect their employer to be excited that they did their job. Really? I am owed special treatment; when people have this mind set, they feel other people should take care of them. Sometimes, they are even bold enough to say it. They say, ‘I am your responsibility, Pastor.’ I say, ‘No, you are not my responsibility.’ They say, ‘the Bible says you should take care of the poor, I am the poor.’ Believe it, or not. When we are entitled, it cripples us, and everything suffers. Work suffers, relationship suffers, family suffers, and everything suffers.

Rom. 12:³ “…Don’t think you are better than you really are…”. So, do not say, ‘I am exempt from responsibility’. No, you are not exempt from responsibility. You are responsible for your life. Do not say, ‘I am owed special treatment.’ No, you are not. Nobody owes you anything. We are loved, we are blessed, we are unique, we are anointed, but we are not entitled.

Prayer: Father, I bring my heart before You, examine my heart and purge me completely of entitlement and help me to take responsibility, in Jesus Name. Amen!