July 1st, 2025
What’s the best gift you’ve ever been given? Really think about it. When you received it, how did you respond? Probably a mix of excitement and gratitude. However, your response in the moment is only part of the story. True gratitude is demonstrated in the way you treasure a gift. We take greater attention and care with things we value. You typically don’t entrust valuable thing to children because they haven’t learned how to care for things. If you gave a child a large inheritance at 10 years old and allowed him to spend it where he pleased, it would likely be gone before he turned 11.
However, one of the great truths of God’s plan is that He gives gifts with the highest value, whether we’ve demonstrated our capability or not. If we don’t learn to appreciate and care for those things, we won’t be effective in God’s kingdom, but Romans 11:29 says, “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
One Bible study’s exposition of the word irrevocable (in its original language) says, “The adjective conveys an unalterable state—an action, decision, or outcome that will never be rescinded or lamented.”
Romans 11:29 highlights God’s unwavering character. It’s not about us, but about Him. He will not take back what He’s given – even when His gift is not accepted, appreciated, or valued.
The things that God has put inside of you are there regardless of how you choose to use (or misuse) them. God gives knowing that many will disregard and devalue what He’s given.
This truth applies to the gifts of the Spirit outlined in 1 Corinthians 12 – things God has given you to bless the world around you. However, this truth also applies to the things God has given for you.
I believe a tactic of the enemy since the beginning of time has been to convince people to despise a gift God has given. 1 Thessalonians 5:20 says, “do not despise prophecy…” Another version says, “Do not treat prophecy with contempt.” If the church despises prophecy, they miss the blessing, insight, and wisdom of God attached to that gift.
This danger is in everything God has given. Think about all the times throughout the word of God we see a gift of God treated with contempt.
In the garden of Eden, they rejected every good thing He’d given them in the garden
because the serpent convinced them He was withholding something better.
In the wilderness, complained in the face of everything He’d given. Numbers 21:5 says,
“The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.”
They loathed the manna miraculously provided in a desert. Instead of gratitude, they treated His provision with contempt, and the result of their ungratefulness was eventually death. They despised God’s goodness, and they died in the wilderness, never seeing the blessing God had for them on the other side of the Jordan River. They didn’t change God’s hand or heart. They didn’t change the truth that God wanted to give them more. However, they robbed themselves of God’s blessing because they chose to hate the thing God had given them.
We see this most significantly in the One the manna represented. Jesus said of Himself,
“I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:48-51).
Jesus is the living bread – the greatest gift the world has ever been given. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, He gave His only Son.” How was that gift treated?
He was reviled.
He was rejected.
He was abused.
Still, He gave.
Isaiah 53:3 says,
“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
Acts 4:11 says,
“This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, but has become the cornerstone.”
The greatest gift treated with the worst contempt.
Still, He gave. He gave His life, His best, His all, for love.
Romans 5:8 says,
“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The gifts of God are not based on our worth. They’re based on His goodness. We wait to give expensive gifts to a child that shows their capability. However, God gave His Son for all knowing that many would trample on His very blood, outraging the Spirit of grace (Hebrews 10:29). This shows His goodness, His character, and His purpose. However, if we choose to revile and reject the gifts that He’s given, the result will be death. Just as Adam and Eve were removed from the garden and cut off from the fellowship God intended. Just as the Israelites died in the wilderness, just outside of the place God intended them to be.
Gifts must be received. They must be opened. They must be treasured. This truth applies to the gift of salvation and everything else God has given. The enemy would have you frustrated with the very things God has given to bless you. If you don’t value and appreciate the things God has given you now, He will not give you more. Ungratefulness is a fiery dart of the enemy that poisons the heart, causing bitterness toward the very things God intends to give us life.
Today, we encourage you to take a moment to thank God for the things He has given you, even now. Look at the people He has placed in your life to bless you. Have you allowed yourself to look with contempt or frustration on those God has given to encourage and bless you? Gifts aren’t just spiritual! Thanksgiving is the doorway to God’s presence and provision. We will rob ourselves of the things He has for us if we allow the toxicity of ungratefulness into our lives. Today, allow God to open your eyes to His goodness in your life. Don’t despise and revile the things He’s given you. Don’t allow contempt in your heart toward the things you have. Allow Him to fill you with gratitude for the things He’s provided. He has better things for you than you’ve ever imagined, but you won’t walk in them if you don’t value the things He’s given you now!
James 1:17 says,
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Luke 12:32 says,
““Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
However, one of the great truths of God’s plan is that He gives gifts with the highest value, whether we’ve demonstrated our capability or not. If we don’t learn to appreciate and care for those things, we won’t be effective in God’s kingdom, but Romans 11:29 says, “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
One Bible study’s exposition of the word irrevocable (in its original language) says, “The adjective conveys an unalterable state—an action, decision, or outcome that will never be rescinded or lamented.”
Romans 11:29 highlights God’s unwavering character. It’s not about us, but about Him. He will not take back what He’s given – even when His gift is not accepted, appreciated, or valued.
The things that God has put inside of you are there regardless of how you choose to use (or misuse) them. God gives knowing that many will disregard and devalue what He’s given.
This truth applies to the gifts of the Spirit outlined in 1 Corinthians 12 – things God has given you to bless the world around you. However, this truth also applies to the things God has given for you.
I believe a tactic of the enemy since the beginning of time has been to convince people to despise a gift God has given. 1 Thessalonians 5:20 says, “do not despise prophecy…” Another version says, “Do not treat prophecy with contempt.” If the church despises prophecy, they miss the blessing, insight, and wisdom of God attached to that gift.
This danger is in everything God has given. Think about all the times throughout the word of God we see a gift of God treated with contempt.
In the garden of Eden, they rejected every good thing He’d given them in the garden
because the serpent convinced them He was withholding something better.
In the wilderness, complained in the face of everything He’d given. Numbers 21:5 says,
“The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.”
They loathed the manna miraculously provided in a desert. Instead of gratitude, they treated His provision with contempt, and the result of their ungratefulness was eventually death. They despised God’s goodness, and they died in the wilderness, never seeing the blessing God had for them on the other side of the Jordan River. They didn’t change God’s hand or heart. They didn’t change the truth that God wanted to give them more. However, they robbed themselves of God’s blessing because they chose to hate the thing God had given them.
We see this most significantly in the One the manna represented. Jesus said of Himself,
“I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:48-51).
Jesus is the living bread – the greatest gift the world has ever been given. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, He gave His only Son.” How was that gift treated?
He was reviled.
He was rejected.
He was abused.
Still, He gave.
Isaiah 53:3 says,
“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
Acts 4:11 says,
“This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, but has become the cornerstone.”
The greatest gift treated with the worst contempt.
Still, He gave. He gave His life, His best, His all, for love.
Romans 5:8 says,
“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The gifts of God are not based on our worth. They’re based on His goodness. We wait to give expensive gifts to a child that shows their capability. However, God gave His Son for all knowing that many would trample on His very blood, outraging the Spirit of grace (Hebrews 10:29). This shows His goodness, His character, and His purpose. However, if we choose to revile and reject the gifts that He’s given, the result will be death. Just as Adam and Eve were removed from the garden and cut off from the fellowship God intended. Just as the Israelites died in the wilderness, just outside of the place God intended them to be.
Gifts must be received. They must be opened. They must be treasured. This truth applies to the gift of salvation and everything else God has given. The enemy would have you frustrated with the very things God has given to bless you. If you don’t value and appreciate the things God has given you now, He will not give you more. Ungratefulness is a fiery dart of the enemy that poisons the heart, causing bitterness toward the very things God intends to give us life.
Today, we encourage you to take a moment to thank God for the things He has given you, even now. Look at the people He has placed in your life to bless you. Have you allowed yourself to look with contempt or frustration on those God has given to encourage and bless you? Gifts aren’t just spiritual! Thanksgiving is the doorway to God’s presence and provision. We will rob ourselves of the things He has for us if we allow the toxicity of ungratefulness into our lives. Today, allow God to open your eyes to His goodness in your life. Don’t despise and revile the things He’s given you. Don’t allow contempt in your heart toward the things you have. Allow Him to fill you with gratitude for the things He’s provided. He has better things for you than you’ve ever imagined, but you won’t walk in them if you don’t value the things He’s given you now!
James 1:17 says,
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Luke 12:32 says,
““Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
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