The great antidote to rights

Honestly, I hate that Millennials are attacked for being entitled. The simple fact is that we live in a world with rights. None of us, regardless of our age, is immune from feeling entitled.

Take me as an ‘for example’. One of my biggest epiphanies came as a result of reading John Townsend’s book. The cure of law. I had what Dr. John calls a ‘pocket right’, it’s aligned with my personality. I’m a helper, so I like to be appreciated. When I’m not in a good place I can tend to feel that deserve appreciation. This is not good for me or anyone else.

I discovered that the word “deserve” is at the heart of the law. If we are honest, we recognize that we all have sacred areas of our lives where special rules of rights apply: idols of the heart where, when others transgress, it evokes anger within us. These are areas of danger where sin lurks, wanting to remain hidden, waiting to be defended, deserving protection. We protect idols from our eventual danger.

But I have found the long-term sustainable cure to be entitled … Dr. John talks a lot in his book about what the by-products of this are. And there are so many! Most of it could be boiled down to the concept of taking responsibility, but there is something more hyper-relevant.

The great antidote to rights is gratitude.

It is impossible to deserve something when we are grateful.

The truth is, of course, that we don’t deserve anything. In fact, we deserve less than nothing. (Yes, of course, God knows we have needs and He provides). But in our privileged times we don’t like to read that we don’t deserve anything.

So, let me finish with the positives:

The more we use our spiritual muscles in gratitude, the less we will be subject to rights and the more we will be a blessing to others. Diligent Christians are deeply grateful people.