Dear Heavenly Father,
In 1Corinthians 3:1, the Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthian church of a prior time that he had been with them. He told them that he wasn’t able to speak to them as if they were spiritual people because they were infants in the Christian life. They hadn’t acquired spiritual maturity, and there were things that Paul wasn’t able to speak or teach. In 1Corinthians 3:2(NLT), he told them, “I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready.” They couldn’t handle the meat of Your Word, so Paul had to give them milk; this was all they could digest. Personally, I make it my constant prayer and desire to grow in Christ, so that I can hear the Word I need to hear. I recognize that milk will only equate to ‘milk blessings’ and ‘milk spiritual’ ability. This is fine if you don’t want to do big things for the Kingdom, but if you want to produce the kind of fruit Jesus Christ expects from his true disciples, a believer must be able to digest the meat of Your Word.
You have given us the responsibility to renew our minds, and to be always ready to hear the truth. Like many young women, I’ve been praying for certain things to come to pass in my life. I’ve sought You many times about these desires, and I’ve come close to receiving them, but things just haven’t worked out. I’ve been praying to know the truth about why I seem to get close, but the blessing doesn’t materialize. I was having a conversation with my spiritual mentor not long ago, and she said, “When God blesses you with a treasure, and you’re not appropriately grateful for it, you won’t be thankful for a bigger blessing either. You won’t receive a big blessing if you haven’t showed God gratitude for the small one.”
Heavenly Father, in my mind, this was meat because it hit me like a ton of bricks, and I could hardly stand after she spoke those words. My soul was immediately convicted. You created us in Your image, so the feelings and emotions we experience are not foreign to You. If we give another individual a wonderful gift, and they are only mildly appreciative, we can tell that they aren’t truly thankful. It’s hurtful, and as Your children, we should never want You to feel that way. We should never want to seem ungrateful for all Your wonderful goodness. In my head, I can imagine You saying, “Well, if you’re not even thankful for this blessing, then I won’t even bother to bless you with anything greater because you won’t be thankful for it.”
Our thankfulness conveys our stewardship. People take care of the things they appreciate. Jesus Christ said in Luke 12:48 that to whom much is given, much is required. You have commanded us to be good stewards of the blessings You bestow upon us, no matter their size. When we receive a small blessing, and we’re diligent to treat it well, our blessings will increase. You tell us in Colossians 3:23 that whatever we do, we should work diligently, caring about the details, just as if we were doing it for You directly.
Please help us to swell our well of gratitude for Your many blessings. You’ve told us that the way to demonstrate our gratitude to You is to live by the example of Jesus Christ. When we are blessed, we should have it in our hearts to be a blessing to someone else, and to take nothing for granted. Please forgive us for not showing You the gratitude You deserve. Please reveal to us the areas of ingratitude in our hearts so we can repent and be better. Thank You for blessing us despite our wrongdoing. Please help us to continue growing in Christ as we walk in Your Spirit. In the powerful name of Jesus Christ we pray, Amen. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“A Good Steward of God’s Blessings”, written by K. Lizzie, edited by Reverend Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.