We live in a culture of entitlement, or essentially insisting that we deserve this or that.
We go to grocery stores and enter as “preferred customers”, “VIP members”, or something similar that builds our egos.
What does all this do to our psyche? Well, it certainly doesn’t cultivate gratitude, or a sense of dependence on those around us for the things we need.
Jared C. Wilson has called prayer “expressed helplessness“. I think that is critical to our understanding of God’s grace in our lives.
The more we focus on our rights, whether they be civil rights, social rights, rights to free speech, human rights, or whatever else, the focus becomes our own sense of deserving. Many of those rights are important and foundational to living in a just society, but we tend to over-individualize our rights.
What happens as a result? We get extremely ticked off when we perceive we are being mistreated! We immediately cry prejudice, discrimination, injustice, or maybe something criminal. Our tolerance for inconvenience becomes extremely low, because we are used to being catered to.
I think what would be better for our souls many times, is to be “blessedly inconvenienced”, so that our hearts grow in faith and yearn to be with Jesus face to face. Those in the kingdom of God give up their rights, because they know Christ is Lord of all.