A Sacred Sense of Entitlement: Knowing Who You Are in God

 

A Sacred Sense of Entitlement: Knowing Who You Are in God | Romans 8:14-17

   There is a phrase that normally carries a negative connotation: a sense of entitlement. When people hear the word "entitlement," they may immediately think of arrogance, selfishness, or someone believing the world owes them something. People with such an attitude are often condemned, rebuked, chastised, and corrected. Yet there is another kind of entitlement one that is sacred, spiritual, and rooted in our identity as God's beloved offspring.

   In Romans 8:14-17, Paul gives believers a powerful understanding of who they are. We are not spiritual strangers trying to earn our place in God's family. We are God's children. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ Jesus. This changes the way we see ourselves, the way we approach life, and the way we receive the blessings and privileges that come with knowing our divine identity.

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." – Romans 8:14

What Is a Sacred Sense of Entitlement?

   Consider a royal family. A person born into a royal household receives certain rights, privileges, benefits, inheritance, and heritage simply because of who they are. They do not have to earn their identity as a prince, princess, king, or queen. Their position is connected to their birth.

   In the same way, Scripture teaches us that we belong to God's family. We are described as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people called into God's marvelous light. The darkness represents the ignorance of not knowing who we are and what belongs to us. The light represents the awakening to our divine identity.

   This is the sacred sense of entitlement: the realization that certain spiritual qualities, privileges, and possibilities belong to us because we are God's beloved offspring. We do not earn God's love by becoming worthy enough. We awaken to what has already been given through our relationship with God.

   Think about a newborn baby. A baby cries and expects to be held, fed, changed, clothed, comforted, and cared for. The baby has not accomplished anything to earn this care. Yet the baby is worthy of love and attention simply because the baby exists and belongs to the family.

   Jesus taught us to approach God with this kind of intimate relationship when He used the expression "Abba, Father." It is the language of a beloved child approaching a loving Father. As God's beloved offspring, we can release erroneous ideas, limiting beliefs, and faulty perceptions that tell us there is something wrong with recognizing our spiritual inheritance.

1. We Are Heirs of God

   The first dimension of our sacred entitlement is that we are heirs of God. To be an heir means there is an inheritance available because of a family relationship.

   What does it mean to be an heir of God? It means awakening to all that God is. God is love. God is joy. God is peace. God is wholeness. God is harmony. God is goodness. God is wisdom. God is patience, gentleness, faith, meekness, and self-control.

   Galatians 5:22-23 describes the fruit of the Spirit, reminding us of the divine qualities that can become expressed through our lives. These qualities are not foreign to us. The Spirit of God is within us, and we can cultivate and express these qualities in our daily lives.

   Think about a cup of water taken from the ocean. The cup does not contain something foreign to the ocean. The water in the cup shares the same nature as the water from which it came. In a similar way, recognizing ourselves as God's offspring invites us to recognize the divine nature that is present within us.

   The Scripture declares, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." As heirs of God, we can move through life with an awareness that we belong to something greater than ourselves. We can stop approaching life solely from the consciousness of lack and begin living from an awareness of divine possibility, spiritual identity, and God's indwelling presence.

2. We Are Joint Heirs with Christ

   Paul does not stop at saying that we are heirs of God. He says that we are joint heirs with Christ. This points us toward the life and ministry of Jesus as the supreme example of what it means to express the divine nature through human consciousness and action.

   Jesus demonstrated compassion, healing, forgiveness, courage, wisdom, service, love, and spiritual authority. He fed the hungry, cared for the hurting, welcomed the rejected, comforted the brokenhearted, and demonstrated the power of faith. His life gives us a picture of what can happen when divine love is fully expressed through human consciousness.

   To be a joint heir with Christ is therefore an invitation to participate in God's work in the world. We can become instruments of healing, peace, compassion, justice, generosity, encouragement, and restoration. We can speak peace into troubled situations. We can serve those who are hungry, hurting, sick, lonely, or in need. We can become the hands, feet, heart, and voice of divine love.

   Jesus declared that those who believe in Him would participate in the works He did, and even greater works. This is not an invitation to glorify the individual; it is an invitation to recognize the divine potential available when we surrender ourselves to God's purpose.

   As Philippians 4:13 reminds us, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Our sacred entitlement is not about personal ego. It is about recognizing that divine strength, wisdom, love, and possibility are available as we align ourselves with God's presence and purpose.

3. We Have a Spiritual Heritage

   Whenever there is an heir, there is also an inheritance. Families pass down heirlooms, traditions, stories, values, and resources from one generation to another. In the same way, Scripture speaks about the spiritual inheritance available to God's children.

   Jesus said, "It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." This is a powerful image of divine generosity. We are invited to live with an awareness that God's kingdom is not merely something we hope to experience someday. God's presence, love, wisdom, peace, and goodness can be expressed in our lives right now.

   This means we do not have to define ourselves by poverty consciousness, scarcity, limitation, or the belief that we are never enough. We can develop a consciousness of abundance, increase, prosperity, overflow, and more than enough while remembering that true abundance begins with our relationship with God and the way we express divine love in the world.

   Jesus taught, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." These words invite us to approach God with confidence rather than fear, trusting that our relationship with the Divine is one of openness, receptivity, and love.

   Psalm 84:11 declares that God will withhold no good thing from those who walk uprightly. Romans 8:32 likewise reminds us that if God did not spare His own Son, we can trust God's generosity toward us. These Scriptures encourage us to release the consciousness of not having enough and awaken to the awareness that our source is greater than our circumstances.

Stop Living Beneath Your Spiritual Privilege

   When we do not understand our identity, we can live beneath our spiritual privilege. We may walk around with depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, poor self-image, or a lack of self-worth because we have forgotten who we are.

   Romans 8:14-17 calls us back to our identity. We are God's children. We are heirs of God. We are joint heirs with Christ. We have been invited into an intimate relationship with the Divine in which we can cry, "Abba, Father."

   The goal is not to become entitled in the negative sense of believing that everyone owes us something. The goal is to develop a sacred consciousness of who we are. It is the confidence that comes from knowing we are loved, supported, empowered, and connected to God.

   When we know who we are, we no longer have to beg for permission to express love. We no longer have to apologize for walking in peace. We no longer have to believe that abundance, joy, wisdom, compassion, and spiritual growth belong only to someone else. We can open ourselves to the fullness of the divine life within us.

A Sacred Sense of Entitlement

   There is a difference between self-centered entitlement and sacred entitlement. Self-centered entitlement says, "The world owes me." Sacred entitlement says, "I know who I am in God."

   Self-centered entitlement seeks to take. Sacred entitlement seeks to express. Self-centered entitlement demands privilege for the ego. Sacred entitlement awakens us to responsibility, service, love, compassion, and the divine inheritance we are called to embody.

   As God's beloved offspring, we can lift up our heads. We can release the belief that we are unworthy, forgotten, powerless, or disconnected. We can remember that in God we live, and move, and have our being.

   Today, embrace your sacred sense of entitlement. Know that you are God's beloved offspring. Know that you are an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ. Know that divine love, peace, wisdom, goodness, joy, and spiritual possibility are available to be expressed through your life.

   You do not have to live beneath your spiritual inheritance. Lift up your head, awaken to who you are, and allow the divine nature within you to be expressed.

📖 Reflection: What limiting belief about yourself would you release if you fully accepted your identity as God's beloved offspring, an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ?

💡 Action Step: Today, replace one limiting statement about yourself with a truth grounded in your divine identity. Speak it, meditate on it, and look for an opportunity to express God's love, wisdom, peace, or abundance through your actions.