James 4:14
14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Sometimes, we make the mistake of thinking that our lives are the most important things ever. We focus so much on what we want, when we want it, that it is easy to lose sight of the reality that our time on this earth is very short in God’s economy.
There’s an ad on television right now that really bothers me. It’s an ad for getting restaurant food delivered to your door. That’s not what bothers me. What I don’t like is the music that accompanies the ad: “I want it all, and I want it now!”
I think those words reflect an attitude that is becoming more and more prevalent in our thinking, when we really, as believers, should know better. It is an entitlement sort of attitude. If we want it, we should have it. Right now!
That’s not a good way to rear children. In I Kings 1, we are given the record of Adonijah’s attempt to claim the throne against the stated promise of God. In the account we read that David never (I’m paraphrasing here) got up in Adonijah’s face and read him the riot act. David never stood in the way of this child, or any of the rest of his children. He was not a good father.
And Adonijah ended up dying for his entitlement attitude when he tried to claim David’s harem, which belonged only to the king’s successor.
We couldn’t give our kids all that they wanted, the minute they wanted it. And I suspect that even if we could have, we wouldn’t have. It’s just not good for kids to demand and receive. They never learn the value of anything, and they turn out to be sneaky and spoiled, like Adonijah.
I guess this post would classify as a “stream of consciousness” piece of writing. It comes from several different moment in my week, so if it seems a bit disjointed, that’s my excuse 🙂
Don’t be entitled. Don’t teach your kids that they should always get everything they want. Our lives are nothing more than a whiff of steam, quickly made and quickly gone. Teach yourselves and your children this: “Only one life, ’twill soon be past; Only what’s done for Christ will last!”
Just Writing! 