"Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I appeal to you on the basis of love..."- Philemon v.8-9
Something I have been noticing for some time now in the Church that has been detrimental to the movement of the body is a sense of entitlement. Now, to be fair I cannot speak on behalf of the body in other countries, but I can speak on behalf of what I see in this country.
We live in a country where people have been spoiled and have been able to get whatever they want, whenever they want it. We can go to a gas station and get all of our essentials. We can go online and have our dinner delivered to us. We can voice command an app on our phone to order a pizza and, get this, it will!
We have so many luxuries in this country that we take for granted and it has got to the point that we get upset when the things we have been accustomed to getting don't come fast enough!
The sad thing is, this cultural phenomenon has infiltrated the church!
We get upset if our newsletter didn't come on time. Our service doesn't fit our schedule, so we make a fuss. When we want the church or the pastor to be available, well, they better be available right then and there!
The church has become "me" centered instead of "we" centered. The fact of the matter is, we who have been in church for quite some time, get so caught up in our "membership status" and think we deserve whatever we want when it comes to the church, that we hinder the ministry to those who are trying to figure out if church is for them.
We expect things to go a certain way, if they don't, well that is infringing on your "membership fees" (aka tithing) and you might take that elsewhere or stop giving altogether.
Do you see something wrong there?
The fact that we feel like we have a right to hold back an offering to God because we didn't get our way is a fundamental flaw! Our entitlement culture has made us so engulfed in our self, that we have put our own desires above the commands of God.
The Church is not a place to satisfy your desires, but a place to enhance your desire for God. It is not a place for you to feel ownership, but a place to discover the owner of all. It is not a place for us to get what we want, but to lift up the needs of others.
The Church is the bride of Christ and our entitlement culture is turning her into a prostitute.
The members of the body need to review their hearts to be sure they are beating in rhythm with their Creator and not rotting in the corruption of the world.
May we remember the purpose of the Church to glorify God and not satisfy our appetites.
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