Our Part – God’s Part Part One

Fresh Manna© by Pastor Tim Burt
http://readfreshmanna.blogspot.com/

Col. 3:22 “Servants, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. “

Over the years I have met a number of people that have thought that God and life are unfair. They have wanted and expected great things in their life. I would say that this is a good thing and I pray that everyone group up with positive expectations. But, I’ve also noticed that many people just expect things to come their way or they expect the government, organizations, family, or other individuals to take care of them.

We do have many programs in our states and nation that are good and provide great help and benefits to help get people on their feet so that they can build or rebuild their life. I believe the spirit of programs of welfare and assistance – medical or other, is to help people for a time and a season so that they can get on their feet, increase their standard of life, and make their own way. Some medical assistance programs exist for children that were born with disabilities and will greatly aid them and their parents as they navigate through life with difficult circumstances. There are many programs to help people that are seriously needing help, some being government and some being non-profit organizations or other. They are all good and a part of what makes our society compassionate, loving, and caring. Many of the people driving and helping with these programs are very compassionate and often secret heroes devote their lives to help others. This should be seen as God’s grace working through people to help people. That is exactly what it is.

This kind of help is never bad. What is bad is when we have people that have a mentality of entitlement and abuse the good will of government, organizations, family and also includes their places of employment. There are those that expect their employers to fill their pockets with benefits that they may desire, but from the employer has been given in good will as a grace. Companies are working to make a profit so they can keep their doors open and keep people employed. They are just as subject to economic downturns as any person and sometimes have to make adjustments that force them to pull back on the benefits they were offering out of good will, not entitlement.

Entitlement is defined in the dictionary: to give (a person or thing) a title, right, or claim to something; furnish with grounds for laying claim. An example of this might be someone that is paying social security through their job. They are entitled to the benefits laid out when the time has come.

What they might get one year but not be entitled to is a benefit that pays for their eye glasses and examinations. That might be a benefit one year but lost because of the expense of the program to the company the next year. An “entitlement mentality” puts demands on what they are not entitled to, and often with a poor attitude and inadequate work effort, yet expecting the most.

People slip into “entitlement behaviors” that can cause serious problems if they do not recognize their attitudes and mature out of them. Here are some of the problems listed by one Psychiatrist:

• Financial illiteracy: inability to manage money
• Irresponsibility: inability to organize ones activities to gainfully accomplish life goals
• Disturbed relationships: using others as objects to gratify his needs without giving up anything in return
• Unhappiness: long-term dissatisfaction with failure
• Alcohol and drug abuse: trying to fill the empty space left by the perception that he has been treated unfairly by the world
• Externalization of blame: the individual never learns his own part in causing problems and solutions
• Frustration Intolerance: due to continued blaming and feeling not in control of the situation
• Impulse Control Problems: due to a combination of immaturity in delaying gratification, anger, and unhappiness
• Frequent anger/rage: secondary to frustration intolerance and externalization of blame
• Grandiose Fantasies: to avoid overwhelming anxiety and emptiness

The Bible does not teach entitlement concerning our effort to work hard. The Apostle Paul says it completely and perfectly in 2 Thes. 3:6-12 (NLT) “And now, dear brothers and sisters, we give you this command with the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ: Stay away from any Christian who lives in idleness and doesn’t follow the tradition of hard work we gave you. For you know that you ought to follow our example. We were never lazy when we were with you. We never accepted food from anyone without paying for it. We worked hard day and night so that we would not be a burden to any of you. It wasn’t that we didn’t have the right to ask you to feed us, but we wanted to give you an example to follow. Even while we were with you, we gave you this rule: “Whoever does not work should not eat.” Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and wasting time meddling in other people’s business. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we appeal to such people—no, we command them: Settle down and get to work. Earn your own living.”

The Lord through His Word is very clear that what we are entitled to do is work hard with a good attitude. Proverbs 10:4 says, “Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.” Proverbs 13:4 says, “Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper and be satisfied.” God expects we treat our efforts in working as though we were working directly for Him. Col. 3:22 “Servants, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. “

Now, having said all this, is there anything we are entitled to? There sure is and when you apply what you learned today with it, it is powerful and will bring you into great blessing of every kind! I’ll share what you are entitled to tomorrow…

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt
http://readfreshmanna.blogspot.com/