Normally, I turn the sound off when a TV commercial comes on. So many times what they say is such an insult to someone’s intelligence. One of the worst things, in my opinion, is how they constantly try to sell you on the idea that you deserve what they have for you, and don’t let anyone take it away.
If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.
You deserve this coverage, you deserve to feel better, you deserve more interest, you deserve a better car, you deserve to feel loved, you deserve…actually, if you listen to this drek, you deserve anything and everything you want.
The truth is you don’t deserve squat… unless you earn it.
Wait a minute, Steve! What about our inalienable rights? The U.S. Constitution says we deserve them.
No, it doesn’t. It says you have the right to them, but we didn’t deserve the freedom to exercise those rights until after we earned it through warfare and bloodshed.
The current generation is known as “Millennials”; they all seem to have a sense of entitlement (of course, not all Millennials fit this description, but certainly, enough do to justify the stereotype), and I believe a lot of this is due to their having been brought being told they deserve whatever they want. I want a new car, well, I deserve it. I want better insurance rates, well, I deserve them. I want a better insurance plan, well I deserve one.
Get real, people! You don’t deserve anything you haven’t earned, but there are many things available to you. If I work hard and save my money, or if I invest wisely, then I can say I deserve to have those things because I have earned them.
By definition, if I already deserve something then all I should have to do is ask to receive it, right? What do you think will happen if you go to your insurance company and tell them you deserve better rates? Do you think you will get them without giving up some benefits or paying more? If you go to a car dealer and offer to give them your car for that better car you deserve, will they accept your old car and give you the better one at no additional cost?
No one deserves anything that they haven’t earned.
What about salvation? Yeshua died for our sins, and haven’t we been told by our religious leaders that all we need to do is ask and we shall receive? If we can get it simply by asking, doesn’t that mean we deserve it?
You would think so. Even by my own definition, something that we deserve we should be able to get with the asking. Yeshua did die for our sins, and he did make salvation something that we can have simply by asking, but it isn’t something we deserve.
It is available to us, but we haven’t, and (frankly) none of us ever will, deserve it. That is the reason Yeshua had to die – no one can earn salvation.
What about blessings? Doesn’t God give blessings to everyone even when they are sinful? Doesn’t it say in Matthew 5:45 that God sends rain to the just and unjust alike? If that is true, then we must all deserve blessings.
It is true that God will bless even those who reject and curse him, which he does because he is a loving and compassionate God. But we don’t automatically deserve a blessing; however, blessings can be earned by obeying God’s instructions in the Torah (Deut. 28.) God promises that when we are obedient to his instructions he will bless us, and God always keeps his word.
Yeshua earned his salvation through a lifetime of perfect obedience to God’s instructions, something none of us can do. He did that so salvation could be available to all people. We do not deserve it, but we can have it.
I’ll finish with this: we can’t earn and we don’t deserve salvation, but we can have it; the hard part is deserving to keep it. And that, my friends, is for another message.
Thank you for being here and please subscribe if you haven’t done so already. I welcome comments and look forward to our next time together, so until then…L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!
