I wish that I could just go see my friends…
I wish that event wasn’t canceled…
I wish everything would go back to normal…
I wish that the stores had what I wanted…
“And then I realized how many stupid times a day I use the word “I”. And probably all I ever do is think about myself. And how lame is that when there are, like, seven billion other people out there on the planet.” -The Princess Diaries
It might seem like a silly movie to quote, and while it is, I still like that quote very much because it can be true about all of us.
If this pandemic is showing America and other first world countries one thing, it is that we are spoiled.
Can you believe that we are over here complaining about not being able to go get ice coffee for a few months when there are people who struggle to just find drinking water every single day?
I read an article today by The Balance titled The America Middle Class is Among the Richest in the World.
The article talked about why our middle class believes they are middle class when we are actually rich:
“Another reason for the middle-class en huit is the rise of mass media combined with an entitlement culture. Americans now demand more. They believe they are entitled to more. And, honestly, provided it is done in a way that doesn’t destroy the greatest wealth building system in global history, I think that’s a good thing. That is the reason life keeps getting better and better. We should all want to someday get to a point where everybody can afford Elysium-style medical intervention. This entitlement is why we don’t think anything of it when every grocery store we visit is air-conditioned or nearly everyone we know is carrying what amounts to a supercomputer around in his or her pocket.
The problem? There is a lot of evidence from behavioral economics that indicates people measure their success and affluence relative to what they see. A generation ago, you didn’t experience much beyond your own world. Now, someone earning a middle-class income can witness an endless parade of others their same age earning $10,000 a month, $50,000 a month, or $1,000,000 a month, splashed across hundreds of cable channels and innumerable internet sites as they sit at home in their pajamas.”
Isn’t that terrible?
It’s like an endless cycle of greed, vanity, selfishness, and misery.
“For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,”-2 Timothy 3:2-4
We don’t have to be part of this spoiled and entitled cycle though.
Combat…
- Selfishness with outrospection (Philippians 2:4).
- Ungratefulness with thankfulness (Psalm 136:1).
- Greed with generosity (2 Corinthians 9:6-8).
We have so much to be thankful for.
“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”-1 Thessalonians 5:18
Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and gave us the gift of eternal life if we obey Him and His word (John 3:16, Mark 16:16). That’s something to be grateful for not only every day but every second.
Starting today, let’s work on not only being grateful but realizing how blessed we are to be capable of helping others with greater needs than our own.
“But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”-1 John 3:17
What are your thoughts?
How are some ways you can work on changing from spoiled to grateful in this time?