“For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”

1 Corinthians 4:7 – ESV

“Yeah, I have this, but I want that!” I’m guilty.. There are times that I have something good and I should rejoice over it, I have what I need, yet I still want more. Many times, I hear this about where we live because so many kids have grown up here and there is no novelty to our city. The grass is always greener, right? Not quite.

After this verse, Paul writes that Christians have already become rich and that they have all they could ever want. As Christians, how could we ever want more than eternity in God’s love? Often, we can become so consumed with what we think we want, that we take for granted what we already have. All because the novelty wore off? All because we have become bored of it?

Rejoice in the Difference

There is proof in us that we are changed… That we are transformed! Yet, we act as if we are not changed and that we must receive more than what we have. What makes us unsettled? What causes us to forget that we have it good? This is something we must look to within our hearts to understand and examine whether God is moving us or if God is molding us.

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

2 Corinthians 13:5 – ESV

When we forget our place in God’s kingdom, the Spirit reminds us that Christ is in us and shows us what paradise is like, even if we are uncomfortable. Just like people who live in Havasu can forget what (earthly) paradise is like, sometimes we can forget what paradise we have in Christ.

Be Thankful for His Gift

I like the word that the focus verse gives us here, ‘boast,’ why don’t we boast about what we have received? We have been given the greatest gift of our lives, yet we act as if it is something that is mundane. This gift is something to boast about, to shout to the ends of the earth what God has done. I am proud of where I come from and that is the purpose of this travel vlog, to boast about my home town and share its beauty with others. We should be just as anxious to boast about God’s gift and be thankful enough that He has shared this with us even when He didn’t need to give us that gift.

So, I challenge you this week to think about what holds you back from being as thankful and boastful of God’s gift. Is it your busy schedule? Are there worldly things cluttering your mind? Maybe you need a refreshing of just how amazing God’s gift really is for us. Then, figure out how you can light that thankfulness and let it burn in an exciting fire in your heart to rejoice in that gift. How can you use that fire to light another fire in other people’s hearts? Be proud of the kingdom you are part of <3

Much love,
T