THE TEMPORAL GIFTS OF GOD
Do you ever think of the things God has given us? Do you realize that everything we have is from God? The temporal things that surround us are the blessings of God. It is God’s love that has brought these precious things to our enjoyment.
Did you know that our life, breath, and everything we have is the gift of God? Do you remember when God created man that He formed him out of the dust of the earth, and after He had done this, He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7). Again, we find that in Acts 17:25 that God has given and is giving to us “life, and breath, and all things.”
God gives us food and raiment. “Who giveth food to all flesh” (Psalms 136:25). All the fleshly life is brought about by plants. Does not God make it possible for the plants to grow? Of course, He does (Matt. 6:25- 34). His word tells us that we are to take no thought of what we shall eat or what we shall wear. The heavenly Father feeds the fowls of the air, and much more will He feed the human beings. He gives us fruitful seasons. If there was no summer, there would be nothing for us to eat in a little while (Hosea 14:5).
God sends the rain on the just and the unjust (Matt. 5:45). God sends the sun for light. That great light that we see in the sky is the light that the God of heaven has sent to us. It is His power (Jer. 31:35).
“For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding” (Prov. 2:6). God gives us wisdom. When He gives us something, it is easy to understand.
“But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ” (Phil. 4:19). God will give us anything we need.
God tells us how to pray. If we have food and raiment, we should be satisfied (1Tim. 6:8). And again, we should ask God for our daily bread (Matt. 6:11).
“For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it is received with thanksgiving” (1Tim. 4:4). There is nothing from God that we should refuse.
(Written by Carl W. Parsons for the Moundsville Daily Echo in the early 1930s while he was in high school. Carl graduated from Moundsville High School in 1935. He lived a godly life, eventually serving as an elder at Tomlinson Run until his death on April 15, 2007. “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, “I have no pleasure in them.”” Ecclesiastes 12:1 NKJV)