Live Dead Joy: 30 Days of Living and Dying with Jesusគំរូ

“Not Worthy”

God is not a genie we can summon to fulfill our wishes. We so quickly fall into spiritual entitlement and forget that we are “not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown” (Gen. 32:10). Entitlement is ugly in any manifestation but especially so when we think God owes us something. The raw reality is that we do not deserve any of His mercies or truth. He is worthy, and for His pleasure we were created. He is not created for our will or whim.

We really have only two rights. We have the right to be called the children of God, and we have the right to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We can stand on those two promises from our good Father in heaven. But we do not deserve blessing. We do not deserve healing. We do not deserve forgiveness. We do not deserve deliverance. We do not deserve favor or revelation or provision or any of the great mercies God lavishes on us. We certainly do not deserve the haven of His unmitigated presence. As soon as we think we are worthy, that we deserve His mercy and truth, something is corrupted in our spirit. When we demand God’s favors—when we think or act in an entitled way—we are just ugly and wicked.

John the Baptist, greatest of those born of women, stumbled on this point because he was disappointed that Jesus did not act as John thought He would or should. An early indicator of spiritual entitlement is when we are disappointed with God. Who are we to expect God to work according to our preferences? Every mercy and truth received should be recognized as undeserved favor rather than every disappointment considered justice withheld.

Unchecked spiritual entitlement leads us to think we are more worthy than others. This ultimately leads to the arrogant idea that others do not deserve the mercy we have received. Such arrogance makes us impenitent. The sad irony of spiritual entitlement is that it leads to spiritual death and God’s judgment. How much better to be a Barnabas and rejoice at the grace of God poured out on others. How much safer to walk with the limp of Jacob and recognize we are not worthy of the least of God’s mercies.

Pray for the Unreached:

Pasi Hindus of India

7,524,000

0.0% Evangelical

Pray that the Past will understand that hope for forgiveness and acceptance with God comes only through Jesus’ work on the cross (1 Corinthians 1:18).