Lest we forget.

A few days ago I was reading from a friend's blog who humbly wrote of the entitlement he sees in the generation around us. Pastor Andy has also spoken about this problem of entitlement many times. Being in this generation myself, I have lived it as well as experienced it -- neither of which are fun to participate in. The reason why this is stated as a problem is because when we were younger we had everything given to us, now that we're older we genuinely believe we deserve everything and we deserve to receive it without lifting a finger (wrong).

As followers of Jesus we are meant to forgive and be forgiven, to love and be loved, to give and to serve; not to be confused with to be given and to be served. I'm not condemning the acceptance of gifts or service from others, because we all need a little help sometimes, but we are not meant to ever believe that because of who we are (or because of whom Jesus made us) we deserve gifts and service. When the acceptance of gifts, service, or ultimately status is more important to us than the gifts and service we can give on Jesus' behalf, we pretty much become the definition of entitled.

Today we're remembering World War I, which ended 94 years ago. This war lasted for approximately four years and killed approximately 20,000,000 people (including civilians). Today we are remembering the soldiers that found something worth dying for, and even more hauntingly found something worth killing for. Very few people in our generation would understand the sacrifice these soldiers made 100  years ago when they enlisted to fight in this fight (I don't believe myself to be one of these people). So, today of all days, let us not forget the soldiers who gave up the entitlement of their own lives so that future generations wouldn't have to; let us not forget that all those things our generation feels entitled to were paid for by the hurt and suffering that previous generations endured to give us a better future; and let us remember to throw off every form of this entitlement in exchange for thankfulness.

Lest we forget.

(note: I just found out this morning that Remembrance day is actually in remembrance of the soldiers who gave their lives in all of the wars [not just WWWI] but I wanted to humbly admit this in a later added "note" rather than change my already posted blog. My apologies for any confusion!)

(note II: someone told me today that I actually put three "Ws" instead of two in WWI in my previous note so... yup... God decided to give me two doses of humility instead of one... cool)