We’ve all heard the adage,
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
I like this one infinitely better -
“Give a man a fish and he’ll be hungry tomorrow. Teach a man to fish and he’ll feed others.”
The basic premise of the second statement is this: A man does not need merely a fish, a paycheck, or a job. He needs a LIFE. We can fill a man’s belly, but we can’t do for him what he has been created to do: God’s purpose for his life.
Entitlement is a perversion of God’s grace — it is humanitarian aid received on the ideology that says ‘one deserves the handouts they receive from others.’ Grace is unmerited, undeserved blessings from God. Humanitarian aid without the preaching of the Gospel, the love of our fellow man, and presence of God is simply feeding people until they die and go to Hell. Human beings are not the ultimate answer to the spiritual problems of mankind — Jesus Christ (and the reconciliation between ourselves and God) is.
Entitlements, as are all human-motivated offerings, are always given with a string attached; usually with the idea of ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours,’ or the like. Sometimes, it can be viewed as a means of buying votes in political situations.
“What dysfunctional dynamic do you have when you have people with so much they feel guilty in relationship with people who have nothing and no motivation?”
Entitlements are for the immature among us who wish to be provided for like a little child. If you are a parent, you know full well a little child is self-centered and needs to have people take care of them. We should reasonably expect that this self-centered attitude and corresponding behavior set, in emotionally-healthy human beings, should be virtually eliminated at some point in their 20s.
The Entitlement Mentality is a compensatory self-valuation system for a value-deficient society. In other words, only people who believe they are inherently worthless and/or have nothing to contribute to society subscribe to entitlement as a means of seeking value in/of themselves at the cost of others. Entitled people are not always the ones who you think. There are people all over the world (from billionaires to the most impoverished) who deal with entitlement issues. The compensatory behavior of worthlessness is narcissism. This psychological epidemic perpetuates, all the while never solving, let alone addressing, the actual problem.
““The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.””
The disconnect of the entitled is this: they have neither grown up with a healthy self-image nor an empowerment from the adults in their lives. This is where sympathetic souls* who want to help their fellow man, woman, and child step in and decry capitalism and “income inequality.” The problem with such oversimplification is this: it’s not the fault of a capitalistic society in the least. The ideology behind capitalism rests firmly on the foundations of human labor and open competition — the people (society) determine what they want via open competition in the marketplace; we often call it, “Voting with your wallet.” The awesome and exciting challenge is to find, individually, our unique place within the labor force and the marketplace. That particular position equates to our ‘place in the world.’ To a man, it is everyone’s DUTY and PRIVILEGE to take upon themselves the responsibility and effort to discover what that looks like for them.
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In a healthy soul, the individual has a general sense - a foundational confidence - that they belong where they are and are an asset of some sort within the constraints of that social construct. People with a sense of entitlement will try to put themselves into a place they think they need to be, but were never meant to be. These narcissistic folks have not sought out God so they can know who He made them to be and, ultimately, where He wants them to be, so they live disconnected from their true self. What a tragedy!
As you can see, the entitlement epidemic is one of a profound spiritual disconnect. Entitlement arises not simply like a baby bird peeping for food, but a deep, inner groaning and pang more painful than a basic hunger and thirst for food — a hunger and thirst for RIGHTEOUSNESS. When a human being experiences the hollowness of the unfulfilled life, the person typically seeks to be filled with something, but if the person does not know there is a proper “thing” (God) and “way” (the Christian life) to fill a God-shaped hole, they will try to fill it in whatever way that makes the pain go away the best.
But there is good news! Hallelujah that we are created in the image of God! The Bible tells us the truth of blessings: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart,” and “Seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” There is no need for a child of the Most High God to depend on the kindness of people, but to depend on the goodness of God as we remain in intimate relationship with Him. The world’s system tells us we must manipulate, steal, and ‘get what you can when you can.’ The Lord wants us to seek and trust in Him and He promises to take care of us in ways we would never have imagined.
Thank You, Lord, that we have limitless, invaluable worth in Your Kingdom! We were made a little lower than the angels and He will take care of His children!
“I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging for bread.”
Prayer
Father God, I thank You that I am able, because of Jesus, to come before You and receive what I need for life and Godliness. I thank You that You are not just able to help me, but You are willing to help me get my life right before You. How can I thank You enough, my Lord? I cannot, but I will try in my praise and worship of the One who cares about me the most! I repent of, renounce, and reject any and all narcissism within my soul. I acknowledge I have done many selfish things throughout my life and I apologize for them (list any that come to mind). I ask that You would lead me out of the cellar of self-centeredness and narcissism and into a humble life as You empower me to do what You have made me to do. Lead the way, Lord! Lead the way! In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen!
* Sympathy is not a Godly trait. Compassion is.
Sympathy sits down next to a person, wraps their arm around them, cries with them, wipes their tears while nothing changes.
Compassion asks, ‘Are you ready to clean up and get your big boy pants on? Let’s go. I’ll help you.’
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