Today I’ll relate Proverbs 30:15 to the spirit of entitlement in so many today… “The leech has two daughters named Gimme and Gimme More” (The Message).
A leech lives off the lifeblood of another and according to this verse the mentality is generational —meaning you pass it on to your kids. We need to apply this first to ourselves in the church before we relate it to the 50% of our nation not paying taxes.
More from me in the days ahead on how God is shifting ministers and missionaries off support letters and fundraisers and endless offerings. My contention is that “the paid guy” is in the way of the fulfillment of the Great Commission because what happens is everyone shows up week after week and watches him do the work. A doctor recently told me he has many ministers in our town as patients and they are all on anti-depressants. And I’d add they are all broke and struggling. How can broke people be a blessing to people in hard times? They can’t.
A couple weeks ago in Greece I put forth some thoughts on the various mentalities to avoid in an economic crisis. One was this entitlement mentality. Others have to do with coveting and envying what others have (class warfare), the poverty mentality, and the victim mentality. I’ll probably say more on this matter this weekend.
Last year I spoke some on the importance of having a Great Depression mentality. God spoke to me on this last year… that we need a Great Depression mentality right now…. meaning that like our grandparents who lived through the years following 1929 that we also would have a willingness and mindset to do whatever it takes to put food on the table for our family, regardless of the effort or STIGMA. Also we need the Faith of a Sower mentality. People have no harvest because they don’t plant seeds – and I’m NOT just talking about over and above giving and more offerings. I’m talking about literal WORK in fields (the marketplace) that will produce a return.
So much to say. This weekend I’m developing the matter of having a mentality that not only allows for, but a mentality that produces miracles and supernatural supply. Comments are always welcome.
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May 3, 2012 at 8:40 am
Nancy Peske
I am glad that someone is mentioning the poverty mentality and the victim mentality. It’s painful to watch people talk themselves out of their power and into their powerlessness. Psychologists who have emphasized understanding and analyzing problems over actually addressing them through many levels of action have been a part of the problem. Mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness all support each other, yet our culture often seems aggressively anti wellness. Wholesome, a word meaning “fostering wellness,” has come to have a negative connotation!
That said, I think the entitlement mentality isn’t afflicting those questioning income inequity, which has grown exponentially in the U.S., but those who feel entitled to take more than they deserve–those who make their money off gambling and exploitation of the weak (Wall Street financiers, for example) and those who collude to steal from taxpayers to become megarich, showing no respect for or gratitude towards those who contributed to their success. A massive shift in awareness needs to occur. Every spiritual tradition warns against attachment to material wealth and ego and power in this world–yet we have come to glorify the 1 percent as somehow morally superior to people who are simply participating humbly in tikkun olam, expressing their gifts in the best way they know how to leave the world just a little better than it was before they got here.
May 3, 2012 at 9:22 am
Steve
I’m in agreement with much of what you wrote Nancy. On a point or two I’d add there ARE so many who protest who want a personal bailout for their consumptive overspending and take no responsibility – they want Obama to pay for their mortgage payment, etc.. I’ve joked that work and soap are four letter words to many of these protesters. The Bible says you don’t work, you don’t eat. I know there is increasing unemployment and there are people who want to work but can’t. Believe me, we have people every week coming for help and I get so see many different situations. There is still a lot of opportunity in this land of opportunity yet many people are lazy and want to live off the largess of others and they aren’t willing to do what it takes to survive and thrive. One of my points here is that God blesses those who shift into a Great Depression mentality. Few have it today. Also, I agree we have corruption and greed in the 1% and they aren’t to be celebrated either. I pray they are exposed.
Mostly, I tried to shift my application of this verse OFF the national issues and point the application first to people in the church – including ministers and missionaries who always have their hand out.
June 5, 2012 at 3:13 am
Wally Right
Good piece on the Wittenberg pig(s) (2009). Now “Pax Christi” a German RC “peace” and “reconciliation” movement is working for disinvestment of Israel in co-operation with the mayor of Lutheran Jena. See in today’s israelnationalnews.com
Wally, New Zealand