Ephesians 2:4-8 – But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

THEME OF THE DAY: DON’T TAKE IT FOR GRANTED. It is so easy to do. Happens all the time. Happens predominantly to those we love and are closest. Even happens in our churches. We take things and people for granted. We fail to keep the fires of thanksgiving glowing in our hearts. This taking things and people for granted, if left unchecked, will produce a very serious and spiritually damaging condition in us; indifference or a lukewarm heart. I am not sure anything displeases the Lord more than for His people and His church to be stuck in a lukewarm status quo condition and then to remain okay with such a condition (Revelation 3:14-22). So how can we prevent the serious spiritual existence of taking things and people for granted as individual Christians and churches? Consider two things . . .

First, learn to cultivate an attitude of thanksgiving for everything and everyone in our lives. This is not easy because by nature, we are not thankful people. That is what sin did and does to us. To be thankful means we get our eyes off ourselves and on to the One who gives us all things to richly enjoy – our God. And this is not an attitude and lifestyle we just wake up and decide to adopt. Oh, we can try, but it won’t last. Why? A thankful heart and attitude that becomes a lifestyle is a work of the Holy Spirit. It is a spiritual work requiring spiritual resources and that being a life filled and controlled by the Spirit of God. The Apostle Paul would tell the Ephesians and us that one of the evidences of being filled and walking in the Spirit is a thankful life – “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:18-21). Let’s do a quick Bible study from the passage I just shared. What are the three marks or evidences of being filled with the Spirit and walking under His control? First is a worshipful life in fellowship with other believers – “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart”. This does not mean just gathering on Sunday and singing songs together. How many times have we been guilty of singing corporately while our hearts and minds have been mulling over the week ahead with all its challenges? What is implied here is harmonious and glad fellowship with one another void of critical spirits, judgmental hearts, and hypocrisy. The next mark in the Spirit-filled Christian is “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. And to show why we cannot do this alone notice when we are to give thanks – always and in all things. No way we do that without the Spirit’s enablement. The final mark of the Spirit-filled Christian is “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” This means we put the interests of others, even those who hurt us, above our own and that for Jesus’ sake. To walk in reverence for Christ is to put the welfare of others ahead of our own. Once again, we quickly see our inability without the Spirit’s power. So, the first application to overcome the sin of being unthankful, of taking people and things for granted, is to learn under the Spirit’s control to cultivate a thankful attitude, all the time.

The next application is shorter but equally important and a work of God’s Spirit. It is found in today’s scripture and the last four words – “the gift of God.” Start each day before we get out of bed thanking God for the gift of life; then spend a few minutes thanking Him for Himself, our salvation, our families, and don’t rush. Lay in bed, pray exclusively prayers of thanksgiving seeing everything we have are gifts from God. It will go a long way in not taking things and people for granted. May the Lord help us fight against the spirit of ingratitude. It is a great offense to Him and quenches the Spirit of thanksgiving in us and our churches.

PRAYER: “Father, forgive me for those times I take for granted Your gift of salvation.”

QUOTE: “Cultivate an attitude of thanksgiving if we want to ensure we don’t take for granted God and His grace”