Entitlement

Yesterday, I listened to a brilliant message from Steven Furtick. He spoke about gratitude.
At one point of the message he unpacks the difference between a culture of gratitude and a culture of entitlement.

A culture of entitlement is when we think we're entitled to something, it's our right to have it. We find something to complain about if it's not how we think it should be

A culture of gratitude is when we're thankful for the things we have, we're thankful for the things we have, for a new day, we find things to be thankful for in every situation

Let me give you an example...
It's church on Sunday and after church there are refreshments served. A group of people have been in early to prepare the cups, buy the biscuits, tea and coffee and will stay afterwards to clear up.

One Sunday the tea isn't perhaps Yorkshire Tea, the urn didn't heat up enough so the drinks aren't piping hot and the biscuits are rich tea....

Do you complain about the colour and taste of the tea, do you keep bringing up the fact that the biscuits are Rich Tea, do you subtly mention the heat of the drink in conversation, laughing it away...

OR

Do you thank you people for doing refreshments today, do you drink your drink thankful that someone has made it for you, do you eat a biscuit because if the rich tea weren't there then you wouldn't be eating a biscuit?

The first response is entitlement, the second is gratitude.

A sense of entitlement often comes from normality and comparisons, "we normally have nice biscuits, last week the tea was lovely"
The problem is that when we feel entitled to something, we also don't leave much space to be grateful for it

A sense of gratitude comes from the belief that everything we have is a gift, it's been given to us from God and as a result we're thankful. We're thankful for the big things and the little.

So here's the question looking for an honest answer?

Do you live with a sense of entitlement or a sense of gratitude?