Everything is a gift

For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? (1 Corinthians 4:7)

In Paul’s first letter to the church of Corinth, he takes great pains in the opening chapters to confront their pride and boasting, which seem to have resulted in all kinds of division in the church. In verse 7 of chapter 4, he challenges the Corinthian Christians to realize that there is nothing good which they possess that is not a gift from God. And since it is all a gift, it would be foolish to boast about it as if it were something they had earned. Instead of boasting in the gift, they would be wise to boast in the Giver: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Brennan Manning put it this way in his classic book “The Ragamuffin Gospel”:

Grace proclaims the awesome truth that all is gift. All that is good is ours not by right but by the sheer bounty of a gracious God. While there is much we may have earned… all this is possible only because we have been given so much: life itself, eyes to see and hands to touch, a mind to shape ideas, and a heart to beat with love. We have been given God in our souls and Christ in our flesh… it is not reward for our faithfulness, our generous disposition, or our heroic life of prayer. Even our fidelity is a gift. “If we but turn to God,” said St. Augustine, “that itself is a gift of God.” My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.

How would it change your life if you saw everything good in your life as a gift from God? Imagine what it would be like to experience wonder at the very things you took for granted: the way your fingers instinctively type out the words that form in your mind, the way your car got you so quickly from your home to your destination, or the way that the smile of a loved one brings joy to your heart. Consider the empathy you would gain towards others who have not been as fortunate as you, who may not have had the parents you had, or the work ethic you developed, or even the benefit of being born in this country. And what about the gratitude and humility it would engender in you if you saw every single positive characteristic in your life as something that was an undeserved gift from the God who created and loves you?

What if today – or even for the next 10 minutes – you just spent time thanking God for every gift, big and small, that He has given you, and spent time praising Him for the generous giver that He is? You might find that it does your heart, your faith, and your relationships a world of good.