In my Sunday school room, I keep a plastic storage container filled with little candy bars as an incentive/reward. When my boys read their Bibles for the week, they get to choose a candy bar. Some weeks, they get them anyway. Visitors get double. The younger kids know about the candy and I often see them sneaking out of my room, grinning. However, that also means I occasionally run out. My boys have come to expect those candy bars and I hear about it when I fail to meet their expectations. What's more, I hear it from the little kids when the box is empty.

 

I am not required to provide candy bars. I do it because I want to encourage my guys. I love my boys and I want them to learn and grow, and this was just one little way to connect with them. They get accustomed to that, though, and a sense of entitlement develops.

 

Here's the thing- those candy bars are grace.

 

God is not required to pour out His grace, yet He does. His grace even touches those outside His kingdom.

 

Just like my boys, I get used to the provisions of God's grace. Often I begin to believe I am entitled to it. Many times, I grumble about how God chooses to administer His grace. And I cross a line.