© 2018 Bill Murphy
We have varying opinions as to ‘entitlement.’ We all believe that certain things are ours by right… what ever our perception of ‘right’ might be.
However, the final authority on the matter of entitlement is the final authority on all matters concerning things human… God’s Word.
It says:
It is in the plan that all men die once. After that, they will stand before God and be judged.
Hebrews 9:26-28 – New Life Version (NLV)
That scripture tells me that we are all entitled to death… and judgement.
Just days ago, a central portion of my little life came crashing down, or should I say more correctly… began drying up!
For days on end, half a dozen counties in our immediate area were without WATER! The reason for this was that the single fresh water SUPPLY line ruptured at the area’s water treatment facility! This forced the treatment plant to be shut down until this large pipe could be repaired/replaced. Several counties were left with only the water remaining in their local storage tanks… which rapidly began dwindling. Because firefighters NEED water to fight fires, local water departments were forced to CUT OFF water supply to homes and businesses… in order to hold an emergency supply on hand.
Needless to say, there was a sudden run on bottled water!
Water is such a common thing. We take it for granted. Turn the faucet… and there it is… flowing fresh and clear. Yet oh so many in this world do not have the ‘luxury’ of a water faucet in their home… nor even a single one in their community! Many must walk miles each day, filling containers with water which is NOT fresh and clear, just to supply their needs. I had to drive all the way (maybe 5 miles) into Carbondale for water.
I gained a whole new appreciation for fresh water that week… and for faucets which freely dispense that sweet nectar of life.
I also realized that deep inside I was beginning to feel somewhat ‘wronged,’ and put-out… because I was being denied that which I was ‘entitled to’ as a tax paying citizen.
Thankfully, God helped me sort out my feelings… to separate the facts from the folly. My belief is that just because I was born in America to American parents… and not in some third-world country to impoverished parents… does not in any way give me a ‘right’ to expectations I have created for myself… not even the simple, everyday things like fresh water.
Yes, I worked. I saved. I prepared for the future. Those things I earned in payment for my labors. Basically, what I’m saying is, “I bought water!”
But where do ‘earnings’ end and ‘entitlement’ begin? And… is there not a difference between the two?
I believer there is.
I remember when just a child in grade school, not long after learning to read… I saw a one-picture political-style cartoon in a newspaper that, for the life of me, I could not understand at the time. I made no sense to me. It showed to two obviously well-to-do gentlemen on a city street, looking down on a poor beggar in the gutter. One rich man was saying to the other, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”
That week of no water, that cartoon came back to my memory, the meaning crystal clear.
~~~~
Pen In Hand 