Taking For Granted

Scripture

“Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city…{and do such and such}… Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow…Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

~James 4:13-15 NIV

Quote

Take judgment and hell for granted and the fact that Jesus has saved you from it makes everything in life an undeserved blessing.

~Jonathan Cahn

The idiom, “take for granted” goes back to the seventeenth  century. The term in not found in the Bible. The word ‘granted’ is used a number of times but it refers to a gift or a bestowal. The expression to take for granted means “to accept without question or objection,” and often implies a lack of appreciation or gratitude. To take for granted may also assume something is true without testing it or questioning it, or to expect something to always be available. When we take things or people for granted; we become unappreciative and ungrateful. Let me give you an example: I am married to a Martha {a pot banger, not a pot smoker}. She is a server. It is next to impossible to get her to sit down, relax and enjoy company. She needs to be busy doing something. For 50 years, she has done everything in the house: cooked all the meals, washed all the dishes and clothes. Mopped all the floors, folded all the clothes and made all the beds. I did nothing. Her recent surgery rendered her helpless. Not only could she not do for others, she couldn’t do for herself. I either had to hire a maid or do the house work. I was tempted to call TWO MAIDS AND MOP but I knew she would have a hissy fit. So I learned to wash clothes, mop floors, cook, wash dishes, etc. I did everything but make he beds. I do only what is necessary and making up a bed is not necessary. As a result, I have a new appreciation for my wife. She would never tell you {she has too much pride} but she got a new husband and a new back. What happened? I have taken her for granted. I just assumed that she would always be able to wait on me hand and foot.

What are some of the things we take for granted? It will be things we have always had and are accustomed to like clean drinking water, comfortable chairs, good food, freedom, etc. The April black out back in 2014 made us realize that we had taken electricity for granted. I remember the night Seth and I drove through a pitch black Hartselle and Decatur. It did something to me and I have been thanking God for light and electricity ever since. Jonathan Cahn pointed out something that I had never considered. People who take heaven for granted {I am a good person and God owes me heaven} have a totally different attitude from people who take hell for granted. I know I deserve death and hell. I have no doubt about it and I can assure you that I do not deserve heaven. No blessing I receive, and they are many, is deserved; they are all gifts from a gracious and loving God. My only response can be gratitude and praise. Compared to the hell I deserve, this life is heaven. I know some think they are living hell on earth but they haven’t seen the real hell. If GRACE ever sinks into your mind and heart, you will be a grateful person.

Extra

I was looking for some old sermon notes yesterday and I did a little cleaning in the process. I am a pack rat by nature: it is hard for me to throw old things away. I came across one of my prayer journals, August 1982. We were praying for June to get accepted into Nursing School. We were engaged with the IMB and looking at South America. August 16, 1982 we were in revival at Summit Baptist Church. Later became Autumn Wood. I was praying for a good year at DBC because it would be my last before leaving for the Mission Field. We had only two baptisms that year. To qualify for the Mission Board, I had to have three years at DBC and June had to have 60 hours of college.

Well, it is cold. It got me to thinking about Eskimos yesterday. What do Eskimos’ do to past the time? What do they eat besides fish? Do they have internet? How would you like to live in an igloo? It has to be below freezing in one of those things or else it would melt. I am glad I am not an Eskimo! It is all I can do to handle Alabama weather in winter. The wind is not as bad today: PTL!

Found this in some of my old notes: why does God allow things like cancer and covid?

  1. Move us out of our comfort zone
  2. Draw families closer
  3. Wean us off sports and entertainment
  4. To reveal the importance of corporate worship and fellowship and to be thankful for the freedom of assembly
  5. Remind us how vital prayer is to our life and mission
  6. To give us an upward focus–setting our affections on things above

{Yes I threw the old notes away. I want Lexi, Big Mama and Mandy to be proud of me}

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