Any Good Thing I Have…

IS A GIFT FROM GOD.

I want you to take a second to just pause. If you can’t put your feet up, don’t fret. I’m simply talking about the “take a moment to think about…” pause. Think about something good that you have. Maybe you right away think about your family. Your house. Where you live. Your friends. Your extended family. Your health. Your hobbies. Your enjoyments. Your favorite book. Your favorite time of life. Your favorite…(you fill in the blank).

AGAIN, IT IS A GIFT FROM GOD.

I’ll admit. I can walk through life thinking that I “deserve” something. I “deserve” to have health. Though in actuality, this isn’t true. I can easily fall into the trap and think I “deserve” to be comfortable. Again, not true. I “deserve” to…well, can I just speak a little truth into my own life? I deserve NOTHING. In fact, any good thing that I DO have, is an extension of God’s undeniable grace.

God chooses daily to shower undeserved gifts of grace on my life. That “good” thing you have? It’s grace.

It is so easy to think that we need to store up for ourselves possessions to have a “good thing.” But that is so not what the Bible’s standard is. Instead, we are to pile up Christ-like character. Because in the end, that is what will stand! But the problem is that our culture says to pile up the goodies. To pile up our closets. To pile up our acceptance in this world. To pile up our perfectionism. But what we should be piling up, is the character of Christ. And anything else we have, is a gift from God.

In Psalm 34:10b it says: “Those who seek the Lord, lack no good thing.”

Just take another moment to pause. Re-read that short verse. LACK NO GOOD THING. Wow, God, talk about hitting me upside the head, eh? You too? For so often, my heart thinks it needs “something” more. But when in reality, what I have earned in this life, is eternal punishment. That’s what I deserve. But thanks to Christ’s death on the cross, I now live free from the tyranny of the devil and therefore, like Psalm 34:9b says, “Those who fear him, lack nothing.”

I lack NOTHING when I fear the Lord. I have all the “good” I will ever need, which is eternal life. And so with all the gifts of grace that God has given me, do I radiate his love and grace? Do I have an attitude of gratitude as we tell our daughter?

It’s so easy to look horizontally and wish for our lives to look different or be different. But sometimes we have to look within our own fence boundaries and realize all that God has given us. For any good thing I have, is a gift from our heavenly Father.

May my life reflect that attitude of gratitude and may my life reflect the grace that God has so freely given us!