Entitlement, Riches, and the Kingdom of God.

"Though beauty gives you a weird sense of entitlement, it's rather frightening and threatening to have others ascribe such importance to something you know you're just renting for a while."
-- Candice Bergen

I really like this quote. As followers of Christ, we are only renting our spaces on Earth too. What is entitlement and where is there place for it?

I think it is one of the most ingrained, unrealized sins that is pervasive especially in developed countries today. Because it's unrecognized, it is perhaps one of them more dangerous sins.

Entitlement is a strange beast. Sometimes we hold onto it because it makes us feel secure. It starts with ownership. We tend to define ourselves by the things we possess, even qualities we possess, then our created identities based on the things we possess tell us what we are entitled to. Our very confidence is so often derived from the number of things we feel we are entitled to.

What if we lived as though the world and those in it didn't owe us anything? What if we could have faith without feeling like God owes us something?

When we are with people who have nothing and we receive just what they received, we are offended because we feel that we are entitled to more. As though we deserve more because of who we are, or perhaps who we perceive ourselves to be. Don't we give preferential treatment to those who we deem to be more entitled as well? "It's only fair" though, right? We want to be fair and give people what they deserve... But do we have the capacity to make those judgments?

Our judgments are so affected by our perceptions, our comfort, and our convenience. For example, I have noticed particularly my own sense of entitlement intervening in the simple daily activity of riding the bus. When I am the last person to the bus stop, I feel like I am entitled to get on the bus first because I didn't get to sit comfortably at the bus stop as I waited and because clearly I had a better sense of timing than the other people who waited longer. But when I am the first person to the bus stop, I feel like I'm entitled to get on the bus first because I've waited the longest and I deserve a seat. I have a longer ride than most people. I am a person of privilege living in the inner-city by choice. Surely I deserve some benefit. I am entitled to them, right?

Absolutely not. But don't we think in these terms?

Personal entitlement puts the world around you, the people around you, at an automatic disadvantage. It allows you to walk around with an air of superiority and the false idea that people around you owe you something.

Jesus told a parable about a man who owed a large sum of money to the King. The King had mercy and released the debt. Immediately the man went out to another man who owed him money and had no mercy. He took him by the neck and violently shook him, threatening him. The King punished the man who had once owed him money for having no mercy and demanding repayment.

If the man was in the wrong for demanding repayment on what was owed to him, how much more are we in the wrong for demanding people to pay back an arbitrary debt that they didn't even accrue - that we assigned to them? God forgive us.

The Kingdom that we are called to does not function in this way. Sometimes we don't have the capacity to understand things unless they are explained in economic/monetary terms. With this mindset, how can we expect to operate in a Kingdom that does not even possess such terms? In this Kingdom, all debts are paid, and resources flow freely as need determines. There is no "system" that directs this flow and true justice isn't instituted. It just is.

In this Kingdom we aren't indebted to God. That debt has been paid and He doesn't have to wave a cross in our face to remind us that He is entitled to our worship. We worship Him because we love Him. Guilt and shame have no place in this Kingdom, and how can entitlement survive without the two?

This Kingdom may have gold streets, but I think we have so misinterpreted that. I don't think that there are gold streets because Heaven is so grand and luxurious. It's not because we are finally entitled to the riches that we gave up in our lives on Earth. By no means. The illustration of gold streets is the manifest idea of the way we are to live as far as riches are concerned.

The streets are gold because gold holds no value. It is no more valuable to people of this Kingdom than asphalt and tar. It no longer has power over us but is subdued to the ground beneath our feet - as it should be. In gold we trusted, but no longer.

It has no impact on the way we live our lives in this Kingdom, and it is certainly not there because we are entitled to it. Most two-year-olds can say "mine, mine, mine". A handful of them can be taught to share what is theirs. Can we?

Good, that's a start. Now can we be taught that there is no "mine"? It's a false concept. It is all God's and we are stewards. We aren't entitled, but God gives. It is only "mine" until someone else needs it more than I do, or until I die. Such is the temporary nature of this life we have on Earth.

If I can learn that the world is God's and everything in it, I can learn to be a true citizen of the Kingdom and a part of the non-system of justice and non-policy form of economy.

If we really centered our lives on love, the most valuable things would not be the things that are scarce, but things that are in abundance. Why would we place value on things that cannot be shared with all of those that we love?

God, instruct us in a new way. A way that is contrary to the way of the world. We are here temporarily, and we are not here for our enjoyment. We are here to usher in your reign, to tell others, to prepare a place for your glory. Show us how to live in your way and to be the Body of Christ. To live in the knowledge that our debts have been paid and that we are to live in a similar way regarding the world around us. Thank you for paying our debt and showing us in such a powerful way the Way that we are to live. Be with us as we learn this Way. Help us to know your voice, know your love, share your voice, share your love.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.

Go to the valley.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death... Do we know what that is? We are so bent on avoiding that valley. We'd prefer the winding mountain trails with the view, thanks. We may occasionally taste a bit of that valley in our personal lives: a season a darkness, being surrounded by darkness. But we don't know God's comfort in those times. Nor do we willingly choose to enter into valleys when we know what may befall us.

When we do stumble into it, we do all we can to dull the pain. We avoid periods of personal darkness, of internal struggle. But what about a larger-scale darkness; an external struggle that is being experienced in the world around us?

Jesus was called the "man of sorrows". I think we tend to attribute that the the "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" bit. Or just the general circumstances surrounding His death. But I think it was just as true in His life. He felt sorrow for the broken state of the ones He loved, for the deteriorating creation He designed, and for this way of life in the flesh.

But Jesus willingly walked into the externally dark places, even with a sense of internal struggle. He didn't deaden His senses to the sorrow; He allowed them to direct Him to those most in need, bringing light into the darkness.

In this Kingdom, power is given to those who are willing to step into the darkness in the name of Christ. What good does a candle do in an already-lit room? Rather than putting all your candles in one room, spread them out to light up the whole house. To be a candle in a brightly-lit room is to lack the very power of the Spirit.

If we are blessed with light, go and share it! Go to the dark places, walk in those valleys. Don't take the scenic route. Don't try to deaden your senses to the sorrows. He who closes his eyes to the darkness still only sees more darkness.

Know suffering, know pain, know the heart of God that is broken for the Broken.
Share that heart. Share that light. Don't sit in darkness
and become as one with darkness.
Know the Light.
Be light.

Who I am, What I'm about, and Why this blog.

I thought that since I am beginning a new blog (thank goodness those xanga days are over, right?) with new readership that I should probably give you a little background on who I am, what I'm like, and how that's going to affect this blog.

So, let's start with the name. One Foot On The Earth. What's that about? Well... One foot on the ground was taken. And I'm from the post-modern age and we use the word "earth" a lot, so I figured that was an okay substitution. Basically though, I just mean to say that I am kind of an idealist.

A lot of what I write will likely be about this sense I have of how things could be. But I'm not writing to dream. I have one foot on the earth. I live here, I am a part of it. I don't live entirely in this idealistic image I have. I'm reaching for it, but my foot keeps me planted on earth. I am not like a lot of idealist dreamers, in that I believe that most of what I write actually can be acheived. Sure, I hope my writings help others to dream the dreams, but moreso I hope it will encourage others (and myself!) to enact the dreams.

So I would call myself middling between idealistic and realistic. A little heavier on the idealistic side. I think I am differentiated from other idealists because I believe not in dreaming things as they should be, but as they could be.

That's some background on my bent. Okay, onto me.

My name's Emily, I'm 20.5 (aren't people supposed to stop counting half-years by the time they get to my age?), and I'm a little non-conventional. I grew up in a military family, so I am accustomed to moving around and seeing new places and doing new things. I was also homeschooled growing up, until I attended public high school. Military, homeschooled kid, i.e. eccentric at best, a little weird at worst.

For as long as I can remember, I've been one to enjoy adventure. Doing something new excites me. Doing something unexpected especially excites me. I think I enjoy elliciting the look of shock and awe on people's faces a little too much. I thrive a bit on being contrary. I'm expected to be quiet and sheltered, I get a tattoo. I can crochet, knit, and bake. But I'm a feminist. I'm expected to be a straight-A student. Well, maybe I'm not contrary in all things.

I am most driven by the idea of understanding. More than anything I want to understand. I want to understand God, I want to understand people, I want to understand the way the world works (rather than the way it is framed to supposedly work), and I want to understand how it could work. I ask the big questions, I am discontent to accept one answer; I am awestruck by the complexity of people, of situations, and of the God that can make sense of it.

I expect you will see at the very least a trace of all this through my blogs. Some blogs will be more serious and thought provoking. Some will be general and probably quite pointless. But I want to invite you to follow my thoughts (good luck!) and to join me in asking questions, seeking answers, and engaging in the conversation.