Margin: Finding Fruit in a World Driven by ProgressSample

The Movement From Entitlement to Humility

So far in this reading plan, we have examined three movements that the Holy Spirit is inviting us to embark on as we seek to restore a healthy level of margin to our lives.

• The movement from comparison to compassion.
• The movement from striving to faithfulness.
• The movement from option overload to self-control.

Today, we will consider one final movement on our journey to find fruit in a world driven by progress: the movement from entitlement to humility.

Progress has been hard at work for quite some time now, planting seeds of entitlement in our minds that, if left unaddressed, eventually lodge themselves deep in our hearts. Seeds that whisper subtle lies into our ears, often beginning with the words "Because you did that, you deserve this..." Seeds that, when fully grown, multiply rapidly into weeds that strangle out the fruit of margin.

But here is the tricky thing about entitlement: It is easy to see in others but almost impossible to see in ourselves. Learning to identify entitlement in our lives is a sobering reminder of Jesus' words in Luke 6:41, "Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?"

In my current season of life, the trap of entitlement often manifests itself in the following ways:

At the end of a long, exhausting work week, entitlement begins to shout in my ears the lie, "Because you worked so hard to provide for your family, you deserve to be able to check out from family life and escape into your cave of isolation."

After serving the needs of others in my local Church or community, entitlement begins to knock on the door of my heart with the following offer, "Because you gave sacrificially of your time, you deserve to unwind and indulge in activities that bring you pleasure."

Perhaps you can relate. Or, possibly, entitlement whispers a different set of lies in your ears. Either way, how do we identify the lies of entitlement in our hearts that we are so often blind to? How do we posture our lives in a way that allows the Holy Spirit to exchange the weeds of entitlement for the fruit of humility?

The daily practice of solitude and silence creates the necessary space and margin for the Holy Spirit to shine the Light of Jesus on the seeds of entitlement currently growing in the shadows of our hearts.

However, because we all suffer from spiritual blind spots, the practice of solitude and silence is often not enough to uproot the entitlement in our lives once it has fully matured. To remove this kind of weed, we need to be regularly engaged in community with other followers of Jesus who can, in love, gently help us remove the log of entitlement from our eyes.

If we are willing to regularly practice the disciplines of solitude, silence, and community, God will use our acts of surrender to move us from entitlement to humility as a means of restoring a healthy amount of margin to our lives.

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