August 17 – What We Have Been Given

        Psalm 16:2 – "I said to Yahweh, 'You are my Master; apart from you, I have no good thing.'"

        Most of us find ourselves living our lives within the financial class in which we were born. When one is wealthy, it is a little easier to give up that corresponding lifestyle. When one is poor, it is very difficult to improve one's condition, as it takes much hard work and fortuitous circumstances.

        Today's thought has to do, however, with what we have, and more specifically, with what we have been given. I have always said that I possess things by two means – that which I have been given, and that which I have been allowed to have. I Corinthians 4:7 states, "Who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did not receive it, why do you boast as if you did not (i.e., why do you boast as if you earned it)? So, there really are two ways of possessing things – by gifts or by earning. However, God is the one who gives us the ability to earn. Deuteronomy 8:17, 18 states, "You may say to yourself, 'My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.' But remember Yahweh your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth..." The previous verse also states that it was God who faithfully gave daily manna "in order to test you, so that it might go well with you in the end." God's gifts and abilities are sometimes given to test our gratefulness to him, because everything we have ultimately is due to him.

        James 1:17 agrees with all the verses above. "Every good and perfect gift is from above, descending from the Father of the heavenly lights..." Let us remember to give thanks to God for all the things in our lives, both great and small, common and special.