By David Phillips
“We certainly deserve it.”
That was the way one local weatherman called attention to the run of mild, low-humidity days that we are enjoying this week here in Central Alabama. His obvious point was that after such a wild and stormy Easter Sunday, with more than 30 storm-related deaths across the South, we could well use a few days of nice weather. I understand his point, and the use of that figure of speech is fairly common, but maybe there’s an indicator in it of a little problem we have.
We’ve heard it said a million times (okay, another figure of speech), “we are so blessed”. And we certainly are. But at the same time, we have a real problem in our culture with an out-of-control sense of entitlement. We somehow have allowed ourselves to become convinced that we deserve to be taken care of, and if any bad thing happens around us, it must be someone’s fault and we shouldn’t have to go through it and its affects.
I’m certainly not trying to take anything away from the Biblical principle of recompense, though most people need regular reminders that it works in both directions (Proverbs 11:31). God definitely blesses the righteous with earthly goodness, and afflicts the wicked according to His wisdom. However, to attempt to quantify or gauge every situation or event and give it a label of “God’s action against the wicked” or “God’s reward to the righteous” is futile, with our earthly mindset and wisdom. We don’t even have the ability to always determine whether something we see as a good thing is really good for us in the ultimate sense, or vice versa.
But in a general sense, the good that happens to and around us in our daily lives should be seen as a blessing from God, and every aspect of good in our lives should motivate us to give continual thanks to Him (Hebrews 13:15). And generally speaking, events of trouble, affliction and even tragedy must be viewed with an understanding that these things are characteristic of our earthly existence, and as such, are the normal plight of humanity. While God is very faithful to help us through our troubles, potentially enabling them to strengthen us, no amount of suffering or affliction qualifies us to “deserve” a break or reward. Nor does a long run of earthly peace or success make us overdue for any particular “run of bad luck”.
There have always been and always will be earthly, physical rewards and consequences to our actions. The student who applies himself diligently to his studies will, within his abilities, receive a good grade, and may be said to “deserve an A.” The person who goes about in defiance of the law and engages in criminal activity will, when apprehended, receive punishment in accordance with the law, and surely “deserves what he gets.”
In the most basic sense, it is selfishness which drives our society’s belief in entitlement. This highly favored mindset in human beings is addressed on the most foundational level by the Lord’s command: If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me, Matthew 16:24. Jesus went on to reinforce this instruction with these details: For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? (vs. 25-26)
It is often very challenging to not take an exclusively earthly view of life, particularly in times of difficulty. Remember that as God’s people, momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).