How well do you receive God’s gifts? Do you accept them at once with joy? Or do you feel that you don’t deserve them?

God continues to pour out many blessings to us daily. From the basic gifts of life, health, and family, to the insignificant treats that are sprinkled throughout our day, I’m not sure it is possible to be able to thank God for all that we receive from Him. Some gifts, like family and our health, we can take for granted, complaining about them until we lose someone or have an issue. Others we may be oblivious to because they are events that didn’t happen or were able to be avoided.

There are other gifts that we may actually push away, thinking that we are being humble and trying not to take more than we need. What we need however, is very subjective. We may think we need more, and God may seem to be stingy with His blessings, when in fact He is giving us only what is truly needed to do His will. Or He may be providing more than what we think we need because He will be changing what we are called to do for Him and He is preparing us for His next calling.

Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, says, “I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me.” (Phil 4:12-13) While Paul relied on God and the skills God blessed him with to be self-sufficient, he also accepted help from the churches, like the people of Philippi. He rejoiced, not in the gift itself, but that it was a self sacrifice that would strengthen their relationship with God and Jesus.

God’s gifts are not like the ugly Christmas sweater we can take back to the store. The blessings may ebb and flow and we need to learn to live within the means of His blessings, thanking Him for them all — the wonderful and the challenging, the unexpected and mundane. For them all, we ask that we use them for His glory and are grateful for what He has bestowed.