Sunday Night: The Hard Way
Date: 2/26/17
Place: BLCC
Text: Galatians 6.4-10
CT: God’s way is often the Hard Way.
FAS: What is the type of religion that would bring the most happiness to the individual who practices that religion? Interesting question.
C.S. Lewis, a renowned Christian author and theologian was asked this question. His answer was quite thought provoking for me.
Lewis paused and said, "While it lasts, the religion of worshipping oneself is best."
In other words, if you want instant, but very short-term happiness, create a religion that focuses on worshipping you.
LS: If we are honest this is the type of religion we are promoting as a society. It is all about me. We are taught we are special as children.
I am of greater value than any one else.
My needs must be met no matter what.
I am owed what I want just because.
I shouldn’t have to do anything I don’t really want to.
What I do doesn’t affect anyone else. It is my life and I am owed the right to be happy.
We have become a very entitled society. Entitlement is defined as: The belief that one is exempt from responsibility and I am owed special treatment.
Many people in our “all about me” society, even though they are blessed beyond belief in comparison to earlier generations or other cultures, feel very entitled. They blame others for everything that they come up short in even though the real reason is their lack of effort and commitment.
Whatever the cause of the sense of entitlement, the end result is that the person believes that he or she doesn’t have to play by the rules of responsibility, ownership and commitment.
The end result is predictable. The entitled person feels good and lives badly, while those around them may feel bad about the situation but have more successful relationships and careers. They take responsibility for their life choices and blame no one but themselves for those choices.
You know those kind of people. Nothing really seems to get them down. They decided to not blame others and take responsibility for their actions. They overcame their past no matter how bad it had been because they decided they were worth it. They decided to not feel entitled.
Entitlement as a way of living is a choice. Blaming parents, spouses or co-workers or employers is no excuse.
All people who have had tough times and could choose entitlement as an out, but many do not. At some point someone chooses to be entitled. They find themselves moving toward a path of feeling entitled. Why? Because it is the Easy Way, the path of least resistance. It is, at least from their viewpoint the easy path to follow.
God does address this in His word. Galatians 6.4-10:
4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load.
We are not entitled to do what we want when we want with whom we want. That may be what our society teaches us but it is not what God’s word says.
Entitlement is all over the place in our world
--Parents with self-centered children
--Companies with unmotivated workers
--People who refuse to grow up and accept responsibility
--Leaders who expect special treatment because of their position, not their character.
--Marriages torn apart because of each seeking to be catered to without thinking of the other
--Churches where people put themselves before the mission of God. They feel their needs and wants should be met, not God’s desire for them and the community.
To put it bluntly, entitlement is a problem that is very prevalent in our culture and is not getting any better as time goes by. There is no age or social demographic this is limited to.
How can we reach and help those entitled people we love and want to help? Or how can we deal with that entitled feeling we may have our self that is damaging relationships we have. It can be tough.
Entitled people are hard to be around. They really don’t care how their behavior affects others.
Entitled people make us angry. When someone doesn’t take ownership or responsibility, someone has to step up. It makes us angry. It is hard to love the unlovable.
Entitled people can make us feel helpless. We can easily give up on the relationship or situation we encounter.
There is a solution to entitlement for our self and others. It is a path of behaviors that undo the negative effects of entitlement.
A book I am reading defines this as the Hard Way: The habit of doing what is best, rather than what is comfortable, to achieve a worthwhile outcome. When you consider something worthwhile, be it a career, a financial goal, a great family, a loving marriage. Entitlement causes you to give the minimum, find the shortcut and think only of yourself.
The Hard Way takes the opposite focus. This idea focuses on whatever is best to reach the good goal even if it is difficult, uncomfortable, takes more time and requires more energy.
Does this sound hard? Yes it does. It is hard to get up and always be to work or school on time. It is hard to not buy that new gadget or device you so want. (It is better to want than to owe.) It is hard to make family time to build a strong family. It is hard to put the wife first when she is taking away from your “man” time. It is hard to have difficult conversations, to face down tough challenges and to do some things over and over till you get it right. All this is necessary if you are to succeed in any endeavor.
But it pays off.
Galatians 6.7-10:
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; 8 whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Doing what is right is tough. Jesus knew this. He said in Matthew 7.13-14,
13 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Overcoming entitlement in our self or in others is difficult at best.
My dad gave me a great gift when I left for college. Don’t know if I appreciated it at the time but I do now. He gave me a wooden box with a lid on it that said “The Secret To Success”. When you lift the lid you read one word in BOLD letters; WORK.
God’s way takes work. It is not easy to have a great career, a great family, a great marriage, a great church, or a great future.
God’s way will bring good things to us.
Proverbs 20.20: Thus you will walk in the ways of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
God’s way will never fail you even though it may bring trials that make you struggle.
God will draw close to those who follow His Hard Way Path. Following Jesus will at one time or another challenge the entitlement feeling you may have in your heart. You will have to sometime say no to yourself to say yes to the Lord.
The truth is there is no Easy Way, at least in the sense of a life of comfort, devoid of work and struggles. There is only the Hard Way---and the Hardest Way.
You sure don’t want the hardest way. It bears only the fruits of entitlement. These will eventually, though temporarily they bring happy times, bring only the destruction of what is most important in our life.
The Way is made. It was made with a great cost at the cross for Jesus. We must never feel entitled when we realize the price paid for our vey salvation and hope.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Townsend, John, Entitlement Cure, Zondervan, Grand rapids MI, 2015 Print
