Take It For Granted

The wife says to her husband, “Don’t take me for granted.” The doctor says to his patient, “If you take your health for granted, you’re going to lose it!” We consider taking something for granted a bad thing. It often means we don’t care about what we have. We don’t appreciate what it costs to have it. We don’t take care of it because we don’t think it’s worth that much.

However, we should take some things for granted. We should take God’s love for granted. We should take Jesus for granted. We should take our faith for granted. We should take forgiveness for granted. We should take heaven for granted. We should take God’s Word for granted. We should take the Lord’s Supper for granted. We should take our church for granted. We should take all our physical blessings for granted.

What do I mean by that? Should we despise all that God gives us? No. Should we fail to appreciate God’s love, salvation and blessings? No. Should we stop caring about Jesus? No.

But yet, we should take everything God gives us for granted. I say that because of what the word “granted” really means. Dictionary definitions can mean: 1) “to treat in a careless or indifferent manner”; but it can also mean: 2) “to accept without question”; 3) “to bestow or confer”; 4) and “to receive permission.”

Simply put, a “grant” is a “gift.” If a student receives a “grant,” it means a generous person has given that student money free of charge for her college tuition. It’s not a loan. It’s money given for the specific purpose of furthering that student’s education.

God has granted us blessings of life, forgiveness and salvation. God granted us His own Son.  He bestows all these blessings upon us. We accept them without question. We have received permission to enter into Christ’s Kingdom and make use of all the blessings He has in mind for us.

We have been granted access!

Access to God’s Kingdom.

Access to the Lord’s Supper.

Access to a Church home.

Access to Heaven.

Access to so much more!

All of God’s blessings are grants. They are proof that God is kind, generous and caring. He doesn’t loan out His blessings to us and expect repayment with interest. He freely gives us all our blessings with the specific purpose of benefiting our life on earth and securing our eternal life in heaven.

As the summer draws to a close, we see that we have much to take for granted. We have all God’s physical and spiritual blessings freely given to us. So take God and His gifts for granted the right way. Realize you can’t purchase His blessings. Rejoice that you don’t have to pay God back because you could never do that. No, simply receive the love, forgiveness and salvation God freely gives you.  Most of all take your Savior Jesus. Receive Him as a precious gift of God’s amazing love.

For God so loved the world that he gave [GRANTED] his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

Accepting God’s grant without question,

Pastor Michael Zarling