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![“Entitlement” – a @UnitedChurchofChrist #StillSpeaking #DailyDevotional by @PastorKaji Douša
[Jesus concluded his parable:] “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” – Matthew 20:16 (NRSV)
I’ve been thinking a lot about entitlement.
When you are entitled to something, it means you have a right to that thing. And when we have rights to things, that means we can set expectations about them.
This gets problematic when someone assumes the right to something that they do not, in fact, have the right to. Entitlement assumptions go hand-in-hand with privilege. In fact, I’d say there is a direct proportion between level of privilege and level of entitlement.
Jesus illustrates privilege and entitlement in a parable:
The laborers with the good jobs—the ones who woke up in the morning knowing just where they would get food to fill their bellies that morning and where they would rest their heads that night—were annoyed when the poor got to join them in their space. This happens with people whose entitlement is misplaced; they live and breathe scarcity. And because they expect the benefits to be limited, they want to limit the bounty just to themselves.
And Jesus says: You know what? This is misplaced entitlement.
Scarcity thinking is so easy to fall into. Once our fears are triggered—“There won’t be enough for me!”—we will go to great lengths to hold on to everything to which we think we’re entitled.
But Jesus says: No.
No. You don’t have to think that way.
I know you think there won’t be enough Jesus to go around.
But there always will be.
God knows nothing of those limitations.
Prayer
Thank you, God, for your boundless love. Help us to trust that you have it all. And then some.
The “StillSpeaking Daily Devotional” series is produced by The United Church of Christ: https://www.ucc.org/daily-devotional/ by @thepark1010](https://scontent-sjc3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/864381164_18638913928042455_1018471146440210455_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_s640x640_tt6&_nc_cat=103&ccb=7-5&_nc_sid=18de74&efg=eyJlZmdfdGFnIjoiRkVFRC5iZXN0X2ltYWdlX3VybGdlbi5DMyJ9&_nc_ohc=Cwrui9t8JAIQ7kNvwE8LypV&_nc_oc=Adp2x9tQewuLYxw0_xfM60YvY5jWDEg_WAFt3rM0KdFwRTG3q0yowvw798PYJ5-ivhccnZ5djGnlOSCKmH1bAGSq&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-sjc3-1.cdninstagram.com&_nc_gid=-tG1jh7Q7FOCjUAiwr5Zww&_nc_ss=70689&oh=00_AQSqMSG5ASgmJ_qRFVst3t_omTH8ND95Ak1yehoV7aW3kQ&oe=6AEF7683)
![“Shiny, Red Apple” – a @UnitedChurchofChrist #StillSpeaking #DailyDevotional by @PastorKaji Douša
[Jesus said,] “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit.” – Luke 6:43-44 (NRSV)
In apple-picking season around the U.S., the lure of fresh fruit overshadows a common shortcoming: most of us don’t know how to pick fruit.
Sure, we might wander into an orchard with our own fruit-picking methodology. But we employ the wrong senses to discern what good fruit is. We pick by color alone or by reachability. Often we pick our fruit by manhandling it. This is not effective. (And yes, I’m just as guilty as the rest of us.)
What happens when we eat bad fruit? It messes up our insides. It makes us sick. It can even kill us.
Bad fruit, to Jesus, is spiritual poison.
But there are those who peddle bad fruit to us all the time. Just listen to a political ad in a hotly contested place. The airwaves are rife with toxic fruit, poisoned apples polished to a high gloss.
Don’t pick your poison. Choose life. Choose love. Good fruit is love.
How do you bear good fruit?
You love. You love first. You love powerfully. You love before you do anything else.
Prayer
May I be known for my love, O God. Thank you for your rapturous fruit. Amen.
The “StillSpeaking Daily Devotional” series is produced by The United Church of Christ: https://www.ucc.org/daily-devotional/ by @thepark1010](https://scontent-sjc3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/843103769_18633480730042455_7960885969326033572_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_s640x640_tt6&_nc_cat=110&ccb=7-5&_nc_sid=18de74&efg=eyJlZmdfdGFnIjoiRkVFRC5iZXN0X2ltYWdlX3VybGdlbi5DMyJ9&_nc_ohc=yzOOU4srWXMQ7kNvwGwF4LX&_nc_oc=Ado4uMspeucgW0OPvkvAJ8thm-MVQDgrqaRGepXxiIAZB0cwEuMyA2YkBOsQCpabhVRSqcFKwUo_6Go7ae0EFrz3&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-sjc3-1.cdninstagram.com&_nc_gid=-tG1jh7Q7FOCjUAiwr5Zww&_nc_ss=70689&oh=00_AQRB-zNAjkaFw3f4_WbNKoFGwpxUaDsdJNPwUjszf1ab-g&oe=6AEF995C)
