My eyes were opened in the last few years when I encountered someone who expected that they should have whatever they want, even what everyone else had without having to work for it.
This person called himself a Christian and even knew portions of his Bible. Sadly he used his Bible to find loopholes for sin.
Here's the story: This young man got into a discussion with me about the nature of stealing. He thought that if a woman was waiting for a bus, put her purse down because it was heavy and then walked away forgetting the purse while getting on the bus, that purse was now available to anyone who found it.
A sort of "finders keepers losers weepers" mentality. You know, the mindset of a rotten spoiled six-year-old who was a bully.
So I asked the young man why he thought this, his answer was astounding.
He said that if the woman were stupid enough to forget her purse then she deserved to have it stolen. Then he explained that it was allowed to take the purse because the woman forgot it. I wanted to know why he didn't think perhaps the thief was stupid enough to take what didn't belong to him.
After listening to the young man I said to him; "I cannot be around you because I can no longer trust you. What if that purse were mine or my friends, I would know that you wouldn't go out of your way to return the lost property."
Then I said; "I would guess that if it were your wallet you would be angry that someone didn't return it to you." Again, his response was astounding, he said, "of course that would be stealing."
Does anyone notice the double standard of the runaway narcissist? They excuse bad behavior by blaming the victim but are enraged if the same thing were done to them. God calls this hypocrisy.
What is even more astounding than this one conversation is that many people think this way in our country today. It is not bad or wrong if you can get away with it.
Another example of this was a person who was showing me their new watch. This person's father had purchased a watch at Walmart. When he arrived home he couldn't find it in the bag. He assumed the watch was not placed in the bag by the clerk. Believing this he went back to the store, showed the receipt to the clerk and that it was not in the bag.
The clerk promptly believed the father and gave him another watch. Upon arriving home the second time he bent over in the car to get the keys he dropped and saw the missing watch under the seat. The first watch had fallen out of the bag and rolled under the seat of the car.
Here's the problem, the father gave the watch to his adult child rather than returning one of them to the store. I counseled the child that she should return the watch herself, that taking it was aiding in the father's stealing it. She could not wrap her mind around the fact that it was stealing to keep what one did not pay for.
This woman claimed to be a Christian so I rebuked her and encouraged her to return the watch. The next time I saw her she was still wearing that watch. So jokingly I said, that is wrong and I hope it breaks. About a week later I saw her again, she was not wearing the watch, feeling hopeful that she had done the right thing, I asked her where it was. She laughed a little and said that it stopped working.
Sadly she never believed me even after the watch was not working anymore.
So many people measure their sin by what they can get away with or who will accept the sin. Everyone in the watch woman's life thought I was being silly for telling her it was stealing to take what you did not pay for. Because of the influences in her life she went with those who allowed for stealing and rejected me for speaking righteousness to her. I was now the mean person in her life, but not only that in the lives of her friends.
When we walk with Christ every day, all that we do is evaluated in terms of what He would think about it. Most of the time we don't even have to evaluate right from wrong we just already know it by the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Strong evidence that someone might not be saved is their lack of conscience over doing something that displeases and defies God's ways. Even their anger at being challenged to obey God is the next clue.
This mentality of entitlement is growing as we progress toward the end of the church age. Those who care nothing at all about God will believe if something falls under their eyes, it must belong to them as long as they don't get caught. But even then they will make up an excuse as to why they had a good reason to do it.
Proverbs 1:7
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Proverbs 29:9
"9 If a wise man goes to court with a fool, there will be raving and laughing with no resolution. 10 Men of bloodshed hate a blameless man, but the upright care for his life.…"
Those who love God and have become wise will be the ones rejected in our age. Sinful rebellious people hate those who follow Christ.
Don't let it discourage you, just be full of joy that you are pleasing God and confess quickly when you discover you have not obeyed Him. Then the joy will return and more growth has occurred.
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