Taking things for granted

The past two weeks I was blessed with the 'opportunity' of traveling for work in the states of OH and CO respectively. And I was reminded again, as often happens when I travel at this time of year, how much I really do take the weather here in Southern California for granted. After spending those two weeks in the 20s and 30s for highs with an occasional snow flurry, coming back home to the 'chilly' weather in the 60s didn't seem so bad.

The reason I even mention it however, is because it reminded me of how many things, and people for that matter, I take for granted without even thinking about it. At the beginning of this year I actually made a resolution or goal, or whatever you want to call them, to try to not take things or people for granted. And I realize that sounds pretty vague, but how often do we take things for granted in our every day life, and how do we go about not taking them for granted?

Well, for starters just to give you an idea of a few of the things I realized I was taking for granted, and don't worry I'm not going to bore you with an exhaustive list, but simple things like... sunrises...

The sun comes up every morning, right at it's given time, and it's so faithful that we literally set our clocks by it. And if we are up early enough to see it, we can be blessed with a beauty that few other natural beauties can rival. A gift from God every single morning and most of the time we don't even notice.

But there are other things as well, how often for example do we take for granted good health, for those of us blessed to have it? How often do we take for granted that we aren't having to endure living in physical pain? Believe me, it's not easy living in constant pain, and I know because I lived for several years like that. There were times that were so hard I wanted nothing more than for the Lord to take me home, but the Lord obviously had other plans for me. And just to give another example with regards to health, this past week I actually had the privilege of meeting a young lady who is a cancer survivor at the age of 21. I don't know about you but I can't even imagine what it must have been like to be told that you have cancer while you're still a teenager. And honestly I wouldn't have ever guessed that about her when I first met her. The Lord has obviously been incredibly merciful to her and you could tell she has a love for the Lord in her heart. So how often do we take our health for granted? Probably more often than we should.

And one other thing I want to mention, mainly because of something I saw this past week at the Shepherd's Conference. How often do we take for granted the fact that we have the Bible in our own language? While at the Shepherd's Conference this week I got to experience seeing and touching a collection of old Bibles in the 'Truth Remains' exhibit that was being displayed at the Master's Seminary building.

Seeing and touching history like that is really hard to describe and I won't go into too much detail, as I have a feeling my younger brother is going to do a blog post on it as well. (assuming he hasn't already done so) But if you think about it how often do we take for granted that we have the Bible in English? It's almost come to the point now where we have multiple copies of it everywhere, I mean I have an app on my iPhone and my iPad that has multiple versions of the Bible that I can just pull up on a whim to look something up. People in our day and age seem to quote the Bible oftentimes without even realizing that is what they are quoting. It's gotten so much to the point where I don't think we really appreciate how much so many people had to go through over 500 years ago to make it possible for us to have the Bible that we have today.

 So how do we go about not taking things for granted? By giving thanks! 1 Thes 5:18 says:

'in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.' (NAS)

I know my dad has shared many times from the pulpit that everyday is Thanksgiving Day, not just some Thursday in the month of November. But do we treat everyday as if it were Thanksgiving Day? In the 107th Psalm we read about different groups of people who go through various trials and then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble and he delivers them. Then we see this verse repeated after each iteration:

'Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness, 
And for His wonders to the sons of men!' - Ps 107:8, 15, 21, 31 (NAS)

So why does this verse get repeated 4 times in that one chapter? Because we need to be reminded! How often do we know that we need to do something but just become apathetic or even forgetful? This is why it is so important for us to be reminded Daily! This is why spending time with the Lord each day in the Word and in prayer is so important! Because our natural tendency is not to follow the Lord but to go our own way. We are all sinner's by nature and if it were not for God's grace we would all be getting worse and worse. And I'll be the first one to admit, I'm a work in progress. More times than I'd care to admit I miss or spend less than quality time with the Lord each day. The older I get the more I realize how precious time is and how important it is not to waste. There is an excellent reminder of that fact in Eph 5:15-16:

'Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,
making the most of your time, because the days are evil.' (NAS)

So in conclusion, let me encourage you, the next time you see a sunrise, thank the Lord for the day He has given. The next time you see someone who is struggling with their health more than you, pray for them, and then thank the Lord for the health He has given you. The next time you pull out your Bible to spend time in the Word, thank the Lord for the fact that you even have a Bible that you can read and understand. And don't stop there! Those are just a few examples of things we may take for granted, and I didn't even mention people, but there are so many other things that we take for granted on a daily basis. So give thanks for those little things in your life, and remember to be grateful to those around you.

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. - Col 3:16 (NAS)