Gimme!

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

COLOSSIANS 3:23

HAVE YOU EVER TAKEN or done something, thinking you deserved it? Maybe it was that last piece of chocolate cake. Your dad made it, and he hasn’t had a piece yet, but now there’s only one piece left. You know he won’t be home for a little while, so you think, I’ll just eat it. Or what about the new phone you want? You might think, All my friends have one. I deserve one too!

Most of us are fortunate and have more than we need. Because our lives aren’t filled with significant challenges, it can be easy to begin to feel like we deserve all the good things in life. We may have the mind-set that life should be easy and we should get what we want.

But that’s not the case. We’re fortunate, for sure. But most of the time, we really didn’t do anything special to deserve our situation. So it’s important for us to not take the attitude that we’re more important or deserving than others. God warns us that if we want good things in life, we must work for them and not expect them to be handed to us. Hard work can help us reach certain goals, but feeling entitled isn’t right.

The next time you’re thinking about taking more than your share of cake or hitting up your parents for the newest phone, ask yourself what work you’ve done to deserve it. If the answer is nothing—then you’d better get busy earning your way!

DO

What have you asked your parents for recently? Did you get those things? Why or why not? What could you do now to begin earning what you did get or what you want? Make a plan, and talk with your parents about it.

PRAY

Dear God,

Thank you for giving me so many undeserved blessings in my life. Please help me remember to appreciate what I have and to be willing to work for the things I want. Remind me that I’m not entitled to anything but that I can earn what I work for. Amen.

READ

Proverbs 13:4; 2 Thessalonians 3:10