Having The Gift In Your Hand And Not Realizing It

Photo courtesy: Mr. Kaye

There's something odd about humans. We ask, seek, knock, kick over, beg, cry, and even be riled with anger against God when we want something and seemingly cannot get it. For whatever reason (by fault or not) when we have a real desire for something animate or inanimate, we go to no end to acquire it.

The funny part about all of this is often times the thing we want most we already have or had - never realizing it until too late. When it's gone. That's the point in time when you almost want to walk out in the middle of 5 o'clock traffic! Having the gift right in your hand and not realizing it can be rather detrimental in so many ways. Did you know that the Bible teaches us to "Know them that labor among you"? It does. I Thessalonians 5:12 reads from the Amplified Bible like this:

"Now also we beseech you, brethren, get to know those who labor among you [recognize them for what they are, acknowledge and appreciate and respect them all]—your leaders who are over you in the Lord and those who warn and kindly reprove and exhort you."

Why? Because it is crucial that we know that God sends us the help, the training, the leaders, the mentors, with His anointed gifting to assist you in whatever situation you may find yourself. It is God's goodwill and intention that you have assistance to accomplish every task He has divinely appointed each of us to complete. What kind of God would He be assigning a task that we certainly could not accomplish without the aide of others and then withholding that aide? It doesn't make sense and surely is not within the scope of God's consciousness. What parent sets their children up for failure? Certainly not our heavenly Father - that's us, not Him. Only humans have those wild tendencies to set one another up for failure only to sit back and laugh with others when they see each other fall. But thanks be to God - even in stumbling we get up through the strength and power of God. The Bible tells us "Though a righteous man falls seven times, he will get up, but the wicked will stumble into ruin." Proverbs 24:16 (Holman Christian Bible) I digress...I need to push on with this essential topic.

My beloved mother would often make this statement: "Treat everybody right because the very one you think you don't need be the one who will have to put water in your mouth." Gosh I miss mama! She was a very wise holy woman, living what she taught by precept and example.

When the "Gift" is gone too often we realize it when we hit calamity, or are faced with a situation that the "Gift" seemingly and effortlessly resolves. When we get too comfortable with each other we have a tendency to treat each other as an "old pair of shoes" or "yesterdays news" not realizing that God's gifts are ever essential and that gift doesn't run out or become useless as long as it operates in and through the power of God's spirit - it stays equipped, useful, powerful, and very important. Don't be like so many others who live so oblivious to everything around them - they take everythng for granted. Everything!

It's time we all become more attune to who's walking beside us. Please don't take it for granted that the person(s) that freely give to us and share with us are permanent fixtures in our lives. Realize now while you have the "Gift" in your hands the value, the benefits, as well as the relationship that is being afforded you. Remember, it's for your good.

Stay focused!

Pastor K.