We live in an age of an ever-increasing sense of entitlement. In our culture the notion that we deserve better is spreading farther and farther. We don't merely deserve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, just to name a few. We deserve so much more. So we have demonstrations against the "1%" because we deserve what they have and we have gatherings to protest the cost of a college education because we deserve higher education and so on. Now, if you think about it, this sense of entitlement isn't really new; it's inborn. The most entitled beings on the planet are the youngest ones.
Most of us think of children as "innocents", basically good beings that are just adorable and nothing else. Holding this view, however, requires a great deal of bias and ignorance because the truth is that, at their core, the youngest human beings are, first, self-centered. All that they receive they are due. All that surrounds them is supposed to be dedicated to making them happy. And the only way any of that changes is training. We have to teach our kids to share, to say "please", and to say "thank you" because it doesn't come naturally.
Why is that? One of the primary indictments against humans is a failure to give thanks (Rom 1:21). Why? I think that there is more than one answer, but one of the main ones, I believe, is this innate sense of entitlement. If you are due something, you are not very grateful for receiving it. If you are not entitled to something good and receive it, you might very well be grateful for receiving it.
I think it is this overblown sense of entitlement that is our primary reason for not being grateful. We are owed so much. People ought to be good to us. We ought to have an education and a happy home and a good job. We ought to be happy and healthy and well off. We're important and we deserve it. So when we get good things -- anything good at all -- why would we be grateful? We had it coming!
That's why it's important to gain a proper perspective. We don't often think like Job who said, "What is man that You magnify him, and that You are concerned about him?" (Job 7:17). We don't really see things like David who wrote, "What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?" (Psa 8:4). Does God take thought of you? Well, sure, but, so? He should! You're important! Right? Does God make much of you? Well, maybe. He should! If He does, it's only because He ought to. If He doesn't, it's because He's wrong.
If you would like to be more grateful (and, you know, avoid that fundamental accusation against humans), perhaps you would do well to realize what you deserve. I mean, what you really deserve. When faced with Justice and equality in an accurate perception of reality, suddenly it becomes a precious gift that you have life or liberty. It becomes a matter of undeserved favor that you have a good spouse, a loving family, a good job, or your next breath. If you really want to become more grateful in life, put a truthful slant on your view of what you really deserve. Then you will be surrounded by an overwhelming sense of gratitude that God's grace -- common and special -- abounds towards you. It gives you a much bigger capacity to praise the Lord with no room for boasting.
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