The Life We Never Expected by Andrew & Rachel Wilson & Russell D. Moore

Author:Andrew & Rachel Wilson & Russell D. Moore
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL012000/REL012030/FAM012000
Publisher: Crossway
Published: 2016-06-29T16:00:00+00:00

Weeping Worshiping Waiting Witnessing And Breathe

Thankfulness in a World of Entitlement

Rachel

If what you think you have is greater than what you think you deserve, then that’s where thankfulness comes from. If what you think you deserve is greater than what you think you have, then that’s where bitterness comes from. Ouch.

That’s a challenge in all cultures. In ours, it’s a greater challenge than usual, because we live in a world where a good many people make a great deal of money trying to convince us of two things: we deserve a lot, and we don’t have enough. (Lawyers and celebrities specialize in the first, advertisers and retailers in the second.) In a particularly ridiculous example of this, I recently watched an ad for a skin-care product in which a husky, very sincere, and supremely confident voice told me that that my skin, my skin, had “rights” (to be preserved, protected, moisturized, and goodness knows what else). But as crazy as that is, the thought is everywhere. You have the right to a good education for your child. You’re entitled to benefits. So if you’re not getting what you deserve, you either grumble or you fight.

Now, there’s a fine line to tread here. We count it an enormous blessing to live in a society with welfare and benefits and special schools and blue badges (parking passes for those with mobility challenges)—especially since we have friends with autistic children in nations that don’t have any of these things—and we think it’s just good sense to get whatever help is available. I apply for whatever I think might help my children thrive, and that means I’ve filled out more forms than a Soviet bureaucrat. But as soon as I start thinking of those things as rights, which I deserve (rather than, say, thinking of them as gifts, since I could easily have been born in Turkmenistan), I open the door in my soul to bitterness, irritation, and frustration. And that kills thankfulness. And when thankfulness dies, so do I.

So I see it as my responsibility to cultivate thankfulness and crush bitterness wherever I can. That’s not just a question of personality. It’s about theology.

Take my understanding of sin, for instance. If I believe, as I do, that what I deserve is death and permanent separation from God, then every happy moment, sunny day, cuddle with my children, outburst of laughter, or song can be celebrated as a wonderful bonus, which I am in no way entitled to. Or what about my understanding of humankind? If I believe that humans, as we currently stand, are essentially rebels against God who have turned creation into a basket case of sin and wrongdoing, then how much more will I be thankful that, among them, I have found health professionals and caregivers and schoolteachers who (whether they know it or not) reflect their Maker’s compassion and care for my children?

More than those things, though, there is my understanding of grace. Grace, by revealing both how much I have and how little I deserve, helps bring me to a place of humility and thankfulness.

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