Entitlement & End Times Prophecy—Is Entitlement the Unspoken Harbinger of the Last Days?
In Second Timothy 3:2, Paul gives his prophetic insights regarding what will transpire in society at the end of the last days.
He wrote, “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents.…” These are the six words or phrases in this verse that we have covered so far. But there are two more words in the verse we have not studied. The rest of verse 2 says, “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy.”
Before we proceed to discuss what the word “unthankful” means, we need to see what “thankful” means in the original Greek language of the New Testament. The Greek word translated “thankful” that is primarily used throughout the New Testament is charistos. The word charistos is a derivative of the word charis, which is the New Testament word for grace. However, when the word charis is transformed into charistos, it more fully expresses the idea of one whose heart is thankful, grateful, or appreciative for various reasons.
The Greek word charistos depicts an inward awareness of having been fortunate or well-treated. Thus, the word “thankful” — translated from charistos — projects the deep inward feeling of one who is thankful, grateful, or appreciative for what one has received or how one has been treated by others.
Let’s look at those three words thankful, grateful, and appreciative for a moment. The word thankful is concerned with a person’s attitude toward his good fortune rather than his feelings toward anyone responsible for it. It suggests that someone is relieved or pleased about a situation or a turn of events. Someone who is grateful realizes that someone else has helped him or treated him kindly, and he has warm feelings toward that person. Thus, the word grateful suggests more of an impulse to thank someone than thankful does. The word appreciative shows that a person recognizes the merits or appeal of something and expresses his or her recognition of it.
Thus, all of these — thankfulness, gratitude, and appreciation — are the expressions of a person who is thankful that he has experienced blessings in some form, is grateful toward the person or people who treated him kindly, and wants to express how appreciative he is for the kindness shown. All of this is included in the word “thankful,” which is translated from the Greek word charistos.
Unthankfulness — When Thankfulness is Cancelled
But now let’s look at what the Holy Spirit is referring to when He says society at large will become “unthankful” in the last days. The word “unthankful” is the Greek word acharistos, which is the word charistos with an a affixed to the front of it. In Greek, that little prefix a has a canceling effect. Although a person was once thankful, something has occurred and his thankfulness has been canceled. A person who was thankful has become unthankful. The meaning of charistos — the Greek word translated “thankful” — is radically altered when that little a is attached to the front of it. That little a literally changes its meaning from thankful to unthankful.
In other words, the use of the Greek word acharistos alerts us that although a thankful attitude previously prevailed, for some reason now the same person has lost his thankful, grateful, and appreciative attitude and is now unthankful. Thoughts of unthankfulness, ingratitude, and unappreciativeness now fill his heart and mind. This person is not thankful for the good he has experienced or for the blessing he has received. He is not grateful toward the person or people who have treated him kindly. He has become unthankful, filled with ingratitude, and unappreciative of what others have done for him. In other words, the Greek word acharistos pictures an ingrate.
The word “unthankful” is profoundly important. It is imperative that we understand what Paul was prophesying concerning a last-days age in which people will become so unthankful, ungrateful, and unappreciative that they feel entitled to everything.
A Society Where ‘Everyone Owes Me’
When a person feels entitled to everything, he loses his thankfulness for nearly everything. Why should a person be thankful when he feels he is entitled to anything he is ever given? This sense of entitlement is destructive to individuals, and it leads society as a whole into a state of unthankfulness — exactly what the Holy Spirt prophesied would emerge in society at the end of the age.
Today society is filled with people who are ruled by a sense of entitlement. One writer correctly stated that such individuals have “an unrealistic, unmerited, or inappropriate expectation of favorable living conditions and favorable treatment at the hands of others.” [1] The following quote is a brilliant statement about those who fit that description, listing the signs that indicate a person is ruled by a sense of entitlement. For example:
“…These individuals will make infeasible demands of others around them, including relatives, friends, colleagues, lovers, etc. That’s the first sign.
“…When someone’s disposition consistently changes when they fail to get their way, this is a clear indicator of entitlement. People who suffer from a sense of entitlement also tend to see the people around them as competition and struggle to compromise or negotiate on mutually beneficial agreements.
“…Ultimately, the individual with a sense of entitlement takes, but they rarely give. They prioritize themselves over others at virtually all times and fancy themselves as superior to others.
“…A sense of entitlement is one of the defining traits of a narcissist….” [2]
It is important to note the use of the word “narcissism” in this context. There are key signs to indicate that a person is narcissistic. In fact, one psychotherapist and author has identified what she calls the “seven deadly sins” of narcissism. They are as follows:
1. Shamelessness: Shame speaks of “the misery of a pervasive personal flaw.” In narcissists, shame is so intolerable that the means have been developed not to experience it at all. They may come across as indifferent and amoral until a minor incident or social slight unmasks what they really are — extremely shame-sensitive without the ability to process shame in healthy ways. [3]
2. Magical Thinking: Narcissists often create an alternate, romanticized reality they can manipulate and control in which they play an idealized role, using distortion and illusion known as magical thinking. A more hurtful way they can distort reality is to employ projection — a process by which they transfer to someone else whatever evokes shameful feelings in themselves. [4]
3. Arrogance: For a narcissist “…if someone else’s stock goes up, theirs automatically goes down. Conversely, if they are feeling deflated, they can reinflate themselves by diminishing, debasing, or degrading someone else. This is the reason narcissists are often judgmental, perfectionistic, and power-hungry.” [5]
4. Envy: A narcissist may try to use contempt, often unconsciously, to minimize a person’s achievements, often presenting a laundry list of that person’s flaws so the narcissist is restored to a superior position. [6]
5. Entitlement: Narcissists hold unreasonable expectations of particularly favorable treatment and automatic compliance from others because they believe they are uniquely special. Defiance against their will or what they want is to them an injury that deserves a display of rage or self-righteous aggression. [7]
6. Exploitation: For a narcissist, “exploitation can take many forms but always involves the using of others without regard for their feelings or interests. Often the other person is in a subservient position, where resistance would be difficult or even impossible. Sometimes the subservience is not so much real as assumed…. It may or may not involve deceit but quite often includes distortions of reality.” [8]
7. Bad Boundaries: Narcissists do not recognize that they have boundaries “…and that others are separate and are not extensions of themselves. Others either exist to meet their needs or may as well not exist at all. Those who offer the possibility of some sort of gratification will be treated as if they are part of the narcissist and will be expected, automatically, to live up to that person’s expectations. In the mind of a narcissist, there is no boundary between Self and other.” [9]
Whew! This list sounds a lot like the last-days society that the Holy Spirit forecasts in Second Timothy 3:2 — a society that will become self-focused, self-absorbed, and self-centered to the detriment of others. It’s a society that does not understand boundaries, that lives for self-embellishment, and that is characterized by a pervasive sense of entitlement. In other words, when a person — or society itself — embraces a sense of entitlement, it produces a “Me! Me! Me!” attitude. Those who are consumed with self, as the Holy Spirit forecasts about society at the end of the age, will possess a sense of entitlement that has self at its heart. Whether these people are cognizant of it or not, they believe that “it’s all about me.”
A Society In Which Feelings Are King
When people live with an unrealistic sense of entitlement, they rarely feel grateful for what they receive because they think it’s theirs by right anyway. And no matter how much they receive, they expect more. They believe they are entitled simply “because” — regardless of their performance or having done anything to merit it. Furthermore, they are so skewed by their self-love and self-focus that they actually believe their “wants” are “needs” and misinterpret their “feelings” as “facts.”
Those with a sense of entitlement base what they believe on what they feel even if it does not match reality. For example, they may feel treated unfairly if they are not able to start out with the lifestyle it took their parents 30 years to achieve. They may feel they have a “right” to material things — assets, security, a home, a privileged lifestyle — that others have to work hard to attain. They may feel they have a right to entertainment and a life full of excitement and fun. And then they may feel that life is boring when nothing “exciting or entertaining” is happening.
People who believe they are entitled may feel the need for others to give them positive reinforcement and reaffirmation of their self-worth, whether or not they merit it. They also don’t usually respond well to criticism, even when it is constructive. They usually feel an inherent “right” to question and challenge authority figures and institutions, as well as the ethics and legitimacy of people who run those institutions — especially if they feel that they have not received benefits they assume they are entitled to receive.
An entitlement mentality is a blight on any society that can eventually undermine a nation’s economic stability, because it focuses on taking, not giving. Not only can this mindset erode a country’s economic system, but it also hinders men and women from reaping the benefit of God’s higher system of effort and reward. Since an entitlement mentality veers from the Lord’s original intention and design, it has a detrimental, undermining effect on a person’s soul that can skew the way he sees life, himself, others, and even God.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not talking about people who need assistance and cannot help themselves because of some temporary setback or even a permanent disability. We are called to bear one another’s burdens and to help the poor, thus fulfilling the law of Christ (see Galatians 6:2). Scripture commands us to help the poor — not only in our own nation, but also around the globe. It is difficult to fulfill our commission to preach the Gospel when people need the basics of food and water satisfied first before they can even hear us!
But it is clear that in recent years, Western nations are being groomed to live under a system of entitlement and benefits at the government’s and taxpayers’ expense. It’s as if there has been a cultivated dependency mindset that has bridged generations, making the cycle of entitlement more entrenched into people’s way of thinking as it has been perpetuated for years on end. How this has progressed so far and made such a mark on our culture would make for an interesting discussion that I’ll not go into here. I believe many factors have contributed to the idea embraced by large segments of our population that little or no effort or work is required to obtain the things they crave.
For example, as a society, we are rewarding hard work and excellence in workmanship less, instead of adopting the mentality that “everyone wins,” no matter what. I’m sure you’ve seen firsthand or heard of situations in athletics in which one or two players couldn’t be singled out for their outstanding performances because it might hurt the feelings or affect the psyches of the other team members. The result has been that every player receives a trophy “just for showing up,” with no distinction made for those who excel.
All of this is a result of an attitude of unthankfulness and entitlement, which produces a narcissistic mindset that continually says, “What’s in this for me?”
But in Second Timothy 3:2, the Holy Spirit uses the Greek word “unthankful” — the Greek acharistos. As I wrote earlier, that little a cancels a thankful attitude and turns it into the word “unthankful.” This means at the end of the age, society — even though the population at one time exhibited the quality of thankfulness — will depart from a thankful attitude and gradually transition into a state of unthankfulness. Yes, we will see an unthankful attitude rise until its grip has seized society at the end of the age.
Many today are seeking their own rights and their own ways, and it is leaving them dissatisfied, empty, and disillusioned. Although those who fit this description are on an endless quest to please self, they have found true, lasting pleasure always to be just beyond their grasp. As much as these people possess — and as much as will be heaped on them in the form of benefits they didn’t have to labor for — they don’t feel thankful, because they feel entitled to it all. They have never learned the spiritual law that happiness is only obtainable where there is a thankful heart.
Notes
Robert Porter, “The Psychology Behind Sense of Entitlement,” March 11, 2020, betterhelp.com, https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/personality-disorders/the-psychology-behind-sense-of-entitlement/.
Ibid.
Sandy Hotchkiss, LCSW, Why Is It Always About You?: The Seven Deadly Sins of Narcissism (New York: FreePress, 2002), pp. 4-6.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
