Gratitude and Entitlement
There are two postures of the soul which can be taken towards any good thing in life: gratitude and ingratitude. Ingratitude acknowledges that we are not satisfied with what we have, but pretends that we would be if we could only have more. When we are grateful, we acknowledge that the blessing we have been given is exactly that, a blessing – and one which we do not deserve. To be ungrateful for what we have while still desiring more is to be lustful, gluttonous, greedy, prideful, and envious and leads to anger and bitterness when we do not get what we want. To be grateful is to acknowledge that nothing aside from God will satisfy us fully, but that we can enjoy, benefit from, and be grateful for the blessings that God has given us.
Gratitude is inherently a posture of humility. It confesses that we do not deserve what we have been given. God did not owe it to us to create us and give us life, nor to endow us with all of the blessings that are a part of living: the delights of family, learning, sensation, fulfilling work, and laughter. While not owing us these blessings, God has given us life and continues to uphold and undergird our very existence. This too is part of the Grace of God. Another, more profound part of the Grace of God is our redemption out of sin and death by the sacrifice and resurrection of His son, which we did nothing to deserve. Gratitude is the proper response to this Grace.
Entitlement leads to ingratitude and says “I ought to be given what I am owed.” Entitlement assumes a right to health, food, comfort, and friends. It assumes that, fundamentally, people have a just claim to any number of things. It is true that, according to the rules of this world, people are owed one thing or another: people living in the United States are owed due process before the law, and a contracted employee is owed his wages. To say that we are owed according to the rules of this world, however, is not to say that we are owed by God. It is instead by God’s Grace and leave that we are owed any of the things that are ours in this life to begin with.
Consider an example. In the Bible, King David is the ruler of Israel. Because he is king, he is owed certain tribute, like taxes, honor, obedience, and military service. While that is true, David still recognizes that his kingship is only his by the allowance and Grace of God. David is king because God appointed him to be king; therefore David is due taxes, honor, obedience, and military service because God appointed for it to be due to him. The ultimate cause for David’s kingship is not David, it is God. The right attitude for David to have towards his position, therefore, is not one of entitlement, but one of gratitude and humility. It was entitlement that led David to commit adultery with Bathsheba and have Moriah killed (2 Sam. 11). It was gratitude which led David to sing his song of deliverance (2 Sam. 22).
Good things are not the only blessings we receive in this life. For the Christian, times of suffering and trial are also blessings for which we should be grateful, though it is often easier to feel entitled to a better lot in life. The Christian can be grateful in and for suffering because suffering is part of the process by which he is taught to be steadfast in faith and to hope in the world to come. It is from this knowledge that James can exhort his readers: “Count it all joy my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2-3 ESV).
Ingratitude, and with it entitlement, will never be a satisfactory state of affairs. It will leave us feeling vacuous and will either enslave us to the whims of our passions or leave us apathetic and bereft. Instead, it is gratitude, both for the blessings of this life and for the promise of our salvation, which will allow us to enjoy that which we have, while looking forward to the final and ultimate fulfillment which is given by God to those who love Him: the rejoining of Heaven and Earth, and our union with God for all time.