Enablement, Entitlement, Self-Government

Matt and I were talking (mostly me) just now about self-government and entitlement vs. enablement.

In Nehemiah 9, when the children of Israel did not want full responsibility for their hardships, they sought bondage and leaders to take the responsibility for them. They wanted a king (in their sins, it says) and a captain to return to their bondage (in their rebellion.) Why on earth would they want to return to their bondage? I think they wanted security.

It brought me to think about the principle. When a person governs themselves, they are able to achieve great things or not; it is up to them. But when the person (or people) give the government of themselves to someone else, they give up choice. They do not get to choose to reach their potential or to live as they please. They may be happy to give up the hard responsibilities, but what else are they giving up at the same time? When they give up the responsibility for their governance to someone else, they are then entitled to help from their govern-or. They feel that entitlement. It allows them to give away more responsibility. This can be both the responsibility that means hard work and the responsibility that means accountability for the choices a person makes and the consequences that follow.

It seems that the opposite of entitlement then is enabling. When we choose to govern ourselves, to take responsibility for our choices and their consequences, we are enabled. We are so much more free to influence our life and environment, to choose what we want in it and what we don’t. While we don’t always choose the best, we can accept the consequences that come as our own doing. Through our choices, we have invited the consequences and take responsibility for them. This seems to me such a happier way to live than the alternative. Sure it is harder and braver but so much happier.

Grace includes enabling power that comes from Christ’s atonement. Part of governing ourselves and being governed by God is applying the atonement. This allows us to repent and to gain strength and enabling power which helps us choose and choose well. We can then overcome the natural man and its tendencies.  

Somewhere in all this is knowledge and truth. We are more enabled to be self-governed, to see clearly and take responsibility, to influence our lives and environment when we have knowledge and truth to help us see. So a price must be paid to gain the knowledge and find the truth in order that we may have the tools to truly be self-governed.

Matt suggested that entitlement is not always bad. When we are on the Lord’s errand we are entitled to His blessing and help. When we keep certain commandments, we are entitled to certain blessings. This seems to me to mean that in these cases, we are really giving the governing of ourselves to the Lord and are then entitled to the help that comes from His taking the responsibility over us. He’s the only one I want to give the government of myself over to. In fact, I’d like to give it all over to Him and not hang onto any of it myself. While governing myself sounds good and noble, it doesn’t sound as good as truly allowing Him to govern me. Still, that is no passive thing. As I learn to govern myself, I believe I become more able to turn my will over to God’s. This includes resisting the lies Satan and others tell. In no way do I want to be governed by him.

This also teaches me the importance of seeing clear consequences that match choices. Whenever we obey laws and principles higher than ourselves, laws that are unchangeable truths, there are consequences that follow. As we learn to keep those laws, we are entitled to the consequences that follow. That is why it is so important for children to learn consistent consequences for choices. Some choices don’t have consistent consequences. It’s not always cut and dry. Sometimes in primary we make it sound like if you always choose the right you’ll always be happy and that all positive choices only have positive consequences. That’s not always true of course. Sometimes people lie and get away with it or tell the truth and get punished. The truth (I think) is that there are positive and negative consequences for most choices, but the path to the greatest happiness is through choosing the right. Children learn to be self-governed as they learn consistent consequences. They can know that when they make certain choices they are entitled to certain consequences. That gives them some security (a safer kind of security, a more true kind, than the one I mentioned above.) It is enabling to know the consequences of the choices you desire to make. I think children learn to govern themselves by seeing the connection between choices and consequences.

I want to be free.