Grateful not Entitled

Matt. 20:²⁸ “For even the Son of Man did not come expecting to be served but to serve and give his life in exchange for the salvation of many.” (TPT).

Luke 17:¹⁰ “And that’s how it should be with you. When you’ve done all you should, then say, “We are merely servants, and we have simply done our duty.” (CEV, emphasis added). The habit of choosing what is best over what is easy must be a way of life because the hard way is better than the harder way. Always choose what is best because this habit eradicates entitlement from your life. The habit of choosing what is best over what is easy means changing ‘I deserve’ to ‘I am responsible’. This cures entitlement and breeds gratitude. The habits of doing the hard things first, keeping inconvenient commitments and engaging in service, cure entitlement and breed gratitude.

If you apply these habits in marriage for instance; change “I deserve some accolades in this house” to, “I am responsible for the accolades I want in this house”, things will change. Do the hard things first; there are things you need to do like pray with your children before they sleep. It appears hard; instead of opting to do it tomorrow, do the hard things first – pray with them today. Keep inconvenient commitments; it is prize giving day and your child just wants you to be there because he or she is going to receive an award. But you are busy making money to keep the wheels going. When it is time for him or her to go up and collect his or her award, his or her shoulder drops because you are not in the crowd. But imagine if your child sees you in the crowd, sitting in the front row. Meaning you sacrificed to keep the inconvenient appointment. What will happen to your child? His or her steps would have a spring to it instantly.

Are you grateful or entitled? If you engage in service in your marriage, or at the office, or across board in your life, things will change. What habit do you need to strengthen? Is it to change ‘I deserve’ to ‘I am responsible’, or engage in service, or to do the hard things first, or to keep inconvenient commitments? Talk to God about whatever it is that you need to strengthen. For some, what we need to do is change ‘I deserve’ to ‘I am responsible’ for spiritual things. I am responsible to give my life to Jesus, so that He can make me a child of God and give me a home in heaven. I am responsible to commit to Christ. It looks hard but there is a harder way. Take the seemingly inconvenient decision to turn my life over to God or to come back to God. Giving your life to Jesus is actually the best thing to do. I urge you to do the inconvenient thing now and make the commitment to give your life to Jesus.

Prayer: Father, I ask that you rid me completely of entitlement, heal my heart, and empower me to be responsible, to be grateful and not entitled, in Jesus Name. Amen!