Entitlement

St. Paul writes, “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” [Rom 7:19, NRSV]. This familiar tension is sometimes represented in popular culture through the image of two tiny angels, one God's, one Satan's, whispering into the opposite ears of a conflicted soul. God's angel calls us to do what we should do, to act accordingly to God's will. Satan's angel is too wise to call us to act according to Satan's will, but instead preys on our sense of entitlement, our self-serving belief that we deserve the things that we want, and that we should have them despite the consequences. Satan's angel does not have our best interest at heart.

We do not often have angels whispering into our ears, but there are many voices in our culture telling us that we are entitled to this, or deserve that. Articles have been written about how the language of advertising has shifted from need, to want, to deserve. The science of persuasion has found our sense of entitlement to be the weakest part of our defenses.

I find it disconcerting when someone says that I'm entitled to something, and am immediately skeptical. I've internalized the language of our confessions, know that I am a sinner, and that the wages of sin are death. That's all I'm entitled to. That's all any of us are entitled to. Remember this when someone tries to appeal to your sense of entitlement. Don't live in fear, though. It is our good fortune to know that our judge is also our savior, who we know loves us, and will judge us on the basis of his love for us, not on the basis of our sin. As Jesus has loved us, we should love one another.