Entitlement

Entitlement:

That would be my word to describe the mindset of Americans after spending time in India. I never saw a child whine; not once. And their lives are much harder than American kids with much less toys, conveniences, etc.

And the poor: we had church on a road, so people just didn’t use that road while we were there for the church service. The rains had ruined their yard and leaked into their very poor home/hut. That’s why we had church on the road. The family wanted to feed us but didn’t have the resources. Their son was working in the salt fields as a teenager for $3 a day to support his mom and sisters. When the Pastor’s wife tried to give them money they put their hands up to refuse it. She insisted, they still refused. She finally put it in their hands and said it was from the LORD.

This is a far cry from what I encounter daily in my work. People ask for money after they have foolishly spent it on cable television, outings, fun stuff from the mall, and run out half way through the month. When we refuse they tell us we’ve rejected them and are not a compassionate church. This kind of thing is a common occurrence. I hear complaints about how difficult it is to get free services from the American government and when it doesn’t come through enough for them, we hear about it over and over again. I’m probably in the midst of culture shock, so I’m sorry if this is negative, but I don’t want to have an entitlement attitude. I want to be grateful for salvation, grateful for life, grateful for so much that I don’t deserve and live in great joy! May the LORD help us all to this end. Shalom.