Pastor and author, Charles Swindoll said, “Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you react to it.”[1] It’s a fact that our attitude is either among our most significant assets or most serious liabilities. It’s impossible to thrive with a bad attitude and unlikely to be kept down with a good one.
People who have a bad attitude often struggle with a sense of entitlement. Sadly, entitlement is rampant in American culture and has influenced segments of every race and economic background. Simply put, entitled people believe the world owes them something. They lack a sense of gratitude and refuse to take accountability. They think the world is against them and everything is easier for other people.
In prosperous cultures, self-entitlement is one of the primary ways the enemy destroys people (John 10:10). For starters, entitlement erodes our attitudes like a fast growing cancer. It will devastate a strong work ethic, and therefore, destroys human potential. Ultimately, entitlement alienates loved ones, friends, and colleagues because it’s so undesirable to be around. Our lives will be severely restricted until we realize the world owes us nothing, and everything we have has been given to us by the grace of God (1Cor 4:7). The good news is, if you struggle with a bad attitude, you have the potential to change.
Our attitude is a state of mind, which can and should be routinely adjusted. Paul calls on Christ-followers to have the mind and attitude of Christ. If anyone ever had the right to a sense of entitlement, it was Jesus. As the sinless, and all-powerful Son of God, He certainly didn’t owe anyone anything. But Jesus’ mindset was the furthest thing in the world from entitled. Paul describes Jesus’ example of humility in Philippians 2, which I believe is among the most profound chapters in the New Testament.
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:5-8).
Jesus possessed all the rightful privileges as the King of the universe, but He willingly set them aside to become an ordinary Jewish baby bound for a Roman cross. Jesus didn’t come to earth with the attitude, “What’s in this for me?” Instead, His mission cost Him the most profound degree of personal sacrifice.
So, what does this mean for a Christ-follower?
Paul instructs Christians to view Jesus’ attitude described in Philippians 2 as the model to live by. Practically speaking, this might sound impossible. But if it weren’t possible, Paul wouldn’t have said it. However, this mindset doesn’t come naturally to any of us. But God routinely commands His people to do things that can’t be done apart from His grace, strength, and transforming power.
Prayer is the driving force that empowers believers to transform their thought life and attitude. If we want an excellent attitude, we need to ask for it repeatedly (Matthew 7:7). It just won’t happen otherwise. As believers, we need to rely heavily on the promptings and convictions of the Holy Spirit to guide us. Also, we’ll continually need to immerse ourselves in the Scriptures.
As Christians, we are the recipients of the most extravagant gift that has ever been or ever will be given. A sense of entitlement is an absurdity for those of us who follow Jesus.
Jesus didn’t owe us anything and yet He gave us everything.
So then, how shall we live?
[1] Charles Swindoll, Living Above The Level Of Mediocrity, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1987, 17).
