By Matt Osborne, Staff Writer

As Selection Sunday approaches, there’s a lot of talk about teams on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament.

“Bid thieves” is a unique term we’ll likely hear in many discussions. A “bid thief” is a team not projected to be in the running for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid, but wins its conference tournament, secures an automatic bid, and “steals” a bid from another team.

This is an interesting term to use considering we think of a thief as someone who takes something that doesn’t rightfully belong to him.

But in the case of college basketball’s “bid thieves,” we’re talking about teams that have earned their way into the NCAA Tournament without any impropriety.

Teams on the bubble might feel like they just had a bid stolen from them, but in reality, if a team doesn’t end up making the Big Dance, it’s because they didn’t do enough to deserve it.

This train of thought parallels when we feel entitled in our everyday lives. If we aren’t careful, we can start thinking that something has been “stolen” from us when, in reality, we’re just experiencing the negative effects of entitlement.

We can think that someone stole a job that should have been ours, received the recognition that belonged to us, or benefitted from a blessing we truly deserved.

Entitlement is an especially inappropriate attitude for followers of Jesus since we should understand how much we don’t deserve any of the good things God has done for us.

In Ephesians 2, the Apostle Paul begins the chapter by stating that even believers were at one time “dead in sin” and “children of wrath.”

But in describing how God brought about salvation to sinners like us, Paul explains, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been saved—and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-7, ESV).

Although we’ve often heard “grace” defined as “unmerited favor,” another way to think of the word is “de-merited favor.” We’re not simply neutral by how we act towards God but actively behave in a way that we actually deserve punishment, not mercy.

We should be very thankful for God’s grace and mercy since we don’t deserve eternal life in Christ Jesus. Yet, God graciously grants it to us because of the amazing nature of who He is. (Thankfully because of Jesus we don’t have to earn salvation and our “automatic bid” can’t be stolen either!)

The more we embrace this concept, the more we’ll understand we not only don’t deserve salvation but don’t deserve any good thing to happen to us apart from the merits Christ has credited to us.

This way of thinking helps us fight against any feelings of entitlement that may creep into our souls. By recognizing that ANY good thing in our lives is solely a byproduct of God’s grace, we can humbly understand that it’s not something we truly deserve.

So today, let’s be thankful for the amazing display of grace we’ve been shown in Christ! Let’s recognize that, although God doesn’t owe us anything and we don’t deserve any good thing to happen to us, God graciously gives us good gifts to point us back to His mercy and kindness.

“Whatever is good and perfect is a GIFT coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow” (James 1:17; NIV – emphasis added).

I’m Matt Osborne, and you can UNPACK that!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please forgive me for the times I’ve felt entitled. I recognize that I deserve nothing good from You, but You’ve acted graciously and mercifully towards me. Please help me live with humility as I ensure Your grace in my life. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.