I’m infected. There have been signs for a while that should have aided a self diagnosis but it was only yesterday as I heard a fellow sufferer speak about her own symptoms that it all became painfully clear.
“a sense of entitlement is a virus that eats away at us.” She said it plainly and all of a sudden everything fell into place.
I’m infected.
I think I should have more, be more – that at 42 I deserve more than I have. I feel entitled, owed: those around me are indebted to me and need to cut me more more slack, afford me more respect and show deference to my opinions, wants and needs.
I feel like God owes me: comfort, time, better housing, more generous holidays, sunshine on days off, money for my wants as well as my needs, children who are unquestioningly obedient, a spouse who is unfalteringly patient, cars that sail through traffic, health that doesn’t deteriorate, coffee that’s always good, people to serve me without error or inconvenience, days without loneliness, cake without calories, success without effort… the list goes on and on and on.
I’ve harboured and cultured this virus – I’ve warmed it with self-pity, fed it the pure proteins of consumerism and sheltered it in the dark humidity of self-interest. The infection is bad and has a real grip.
As I listened to the speaker at church yesterday, an ordinary woman who has served for many years in a war torn country, talking about the infection of the entitlement virus – the diagnosis and the treatment were clear.
- I am owed nothing – everything I have is an amazing gift. Gratitude, not grumbling, is the first line of attack: gratitude for life and the honour of knowing God in Jesus Christ – each day is a gift.
- Humility paralyses the virus – God is God, I am not: this is His world not mine, I serve Him not Him me, and this world does not function as He designed it; inconvenience and hard work are just part of life, remembering this keeps the symptoms of the virus in check.
- Changing the intellectual and spiritual environment starves the virus and renders it ineffectual. Feeding myself with the truth of God’s Word, choosing to serve among His people and both love and be loved in the great imperfections of life are the antibodies which course through a system and prevent the virus from thriving: the light of the gospel prevents it feeding and spreading.
- Being loved in Christ Jesus, kills the virus off. God has given us His Son and now, nothing good is withheld when it is good for us. I am owed nothing but, owned in Christ, I have laid hold of an inheritance which means I am rich beyond the wildest and truest hopes of humanity.
Today I feel a little freer of the symptoms of the virus which could prove deadly. I’ll keep taking the medicine and antiviral therapies until the end of my days – then, I shall be truly free.
What about you? How infected are you?
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8 comments:
Yes! I call it my princess complex. I believe I am a princess and the world should serve me and everything should happen for my good and my pleasure and my comfort. But I'm actually a slave. And I need to be reminded of it every minute of every day.
Love your remedies.
Ouch!
Me too. Very helped by this today, Andy
Well, clearly you and I are re-learning the same things at the same sort of time. Clarkie and I used to call it the Miss Piggy complex: "But what about moi?!"
Thanks to God for this gift of communicating truth that he's given you! Very helpful.
Fabulous Andy, thanks - very helpful. Love to you and yours.
Thanks Andy, helpfully clear. We could of course just call it what it is as well, our "God Complex" in full swing with some generous encouragement from the culture around us. For a very good and painful secular read on this try Jean Twenge's "Generation Me" and "The Narcissism Epidemic"
Managed to lose the virus about 25 years ago totally without the help of Jesus. Thank you, common humanity.
Great - will be quoting from you in my sermon on Sunday at ASLP!
Thanks guys, appreciate your comments and encouragements.
Sigil - been thinking best how to respond as I've been reflecting on your post. The 'oh no you haven't - 'oh yes I have' argument would get us nowhere nor would it help me to understand what you mean, or engage in a discussion of what you understand common humanity. So could I ask you to elaborate what you mean by 'common humanity' because I think that's precisely what I'm talking about inthe post: the thing common across cultures, times, ages and genders which leads to a self defining, self centred and self determining which places humanity at the core. Jesus speaks in a way that confronts that as THE problem rather than THE solution to the condition of the world in which we live.
Genuinely want to understand what you mean.
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