Page 18 - Western Recorder NOVEMBER 2020

18 Western Recorder ǀ November 2020
CLAUNCH
By KYLE CLAUNCH
Sometimes the best way to define a thing is by identifying its opposite. How could we ever appreciate light without the experience of darkness? Would the comfort of warmth be so pleasant without the bitter experi- ence of the cold?
Sadly, entitlement is the natural disposition of the heart for all people in this fallen world, but there is a cure for this disease: the gospel of Jesus Christ.
You may be thinking, “I’m already a Christian. I don’t need to meditate on the gospel.” But this would be a mistake. The gospel is the power of God for the entirety of our salvation (Rom. 1:16). It is not just a message for our entrance into salvation (new birth and justification by faith). It is a message intended to carry us through the progressive stages of our salvation (sanctification) all the way to the redemp- tion of our bodies by which we will dwell in a new creation (glorification).
If the Christian life is an ocean, the gospel is its water. One can wade in the shallows at the beach and be legitimately in the ocean, but there are immeasurable depths and vast expanses to be explored. The Christian never moves beyond the gospel. Instead he moves farther out and deeper into the watery depths of God’s grace.
So, how does the gospel of Jesus Christ dispel entitlement and create gratitude? There are at least three ways.
First, the gospel exposes our sinfulness. As believ- ers in Christ, we know that we need salvation because we’ve sinned against God. In stark con- trast to a popular cultural message that promotes the inherent goodness of people, Scripture
Not only are concepts like light and warmth best understood in contrast to their opposites, but their opposites are absences, what one might call privations. Darkness is not a thing. It is rather the absence of light. Cold is not a thing but the priva- tion of heat.
As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, I find myself meditating on gratitude and its synonym, thankfulness. Many definitions could suffice for gratitude, but I propose that it is best understood in light of its opposite: entitlement.
Entitlement is an attitude of the heart that boasts of merit and achievement as the basis for receiving good things. The entitled heart says, “I’ve earned leisure because of my hard work,” or “I deserve love because I’m lovely.” The entitled heart be- lieves that every good pleasure or tangible benefit is the just desert of personal merit. Entitlement
is the opposite of gratitude; it is the privation of thankfulness.