Day 2175 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.


1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV

You ever do or say something and instantly feel like a scumbag? Happens to me all the time, but I do my best to notice it so that I can do better going forward. Well, I did it again yesterday. I was surprised with a little gift and instead of responding with gratitude, I mixed in a little negativity. And now I've thought about it all night so I figured it might be something to share!

Gratitude should be our instant reaction to the gifts that we're given in life. We don't deserve anything good, so whenever we get something good we should be overwhelmed with thankfulness. I guess it's one of those broken pieces of humanity that's crept in and trips us up. We've gotten so used to seeing the bad in things that we can even start seeing the bad in the gifts that we receive.

That's definitely not a place we need to be! The gifts that we get may not be what we would have chosen, but they're still gifts. Someone took their time to think of us and do something kind. So for us to respond with anything other than gratefulness is shameful. Again, we don't deserve anything so we should truly appreciate whatever gifts we receive!

Makes me think of God's plans. He leads us along paths through trials that we wouldn't choose. So His gifts may not be the perfect picture that we've created in our minds. But His plans will always be better than ours. His blessings will always be more incredible than we deserve. We may not understand them. They may not be what we would choose. But that will never change the fact that they're gifts that He lovingly chooses to send our way.

Maybe life doesn't seem like much of a joyous gift right now. Maybe the storm you're in is rough and you're wearing thin. But we still need to be thankful. Yes, even thankful for the blessings that are disguised right now. Because that storm may be the thing that blows you in a better direction. That test will become part of your testimony. That hard day is a reminder that God's still with us. It's about seeing the good in things, not the bad like we're used to looking for!

Just be thankful. For life, for the relationships you have, for the undeserved gifts you're given. Even on our worst day we still have it really good. Even when things don't make sense or look just right to us they're still amazing blessings. So always make sure that your heart is full of gratitude and focus on finding the good in everything. After all, we've already been more than we could have ever hoped for in Christ. So there's no reason to ever be anything less than thankful!

Comments

  1. marcieFebruary 5, 2021 at 10:17 PM

    Very true. We do not know the outcome for everything but we can trust. Trust God and keep growing our faith. He knows what he is doing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KyleFebruary 6, 2021 at 4:10 PM

      Amen, He definitely does! Trust is much more important than figuring everything out because we could never imagine what He has planned.

      Delete

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