Today is…

a wonderful day to appreciate all of God’s gifts.

“…for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”  Romans 11:29 NASB

The gifts that God has given to each and every one of us takes a book unto itself to discuss and describe. That beautiful record of the gifts that God has given, and promised, to the world is the Holy Bible.

From the very beginning of the Bible, the incredible value and splendor of God’s gifts to us is laid before us. The first gift that God gave to us was the world itself, followed by the living, breathing creations and plants that provide it with its very heartbeat.

All of that was followed by what would prove to be His most perfect creation, as well as His biggest disappointment.

When He gave life to Adam and Eve, mankind was perfect. Part of our perfection was our curiosity. We would need this to fully appreciate and explore the world around us. Unfortunately, this gift also played a part in Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God. Be that as it may, that disobedience did not stop God from loving us and blessing us with countless other gifts.

To counter Adam’s disobedience, God gave us His son, Jesus Christ, the most perfect gift ever given.

“But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:15 NLT).

God gives some gifts to all of us, and some to us individually. Some of us He has given the ability to lead, to teach, to prophesy, or to do any one of dozens of things that can be used in service to the One who gave us all that we have. God also gave us a variety of spiritual leaders to help us learn about God, to guide us in the application of what we have learned, and to help us know how to reach out to others as well.

“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.” (Ephesians 4:11 NLT).

God gave us the gift of today, and we should take the time today to show our appreciation for all of His other gifts to us.

Come to think of it, we should use the gift of everyday to do that.

*******

Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson