We all started out poor.
Imagine if you knew someone who had very few possessions, (practically nothing). Suppose you felt compassion for them, and you took this person to the spa and got them a bubble bath, a massage, a haircut and then took them to the best clothing store and outfitted them with a fine wardrobe of elegant clothes. Next you went to the automobile dealership and bought them a shiny new luxury car. Finally, you gave them a bank account filled with money and sent them on their way.
Suppose a few days later you observed this same person taunting, sneering, and making fun of some folks who had nothing and were very poor and lacking all the fine things that you had given this individual. In effect they were using everything you had given them for the purpose of making fun of others who were less fortunate. Would it make you mad enough to want to take away what you had given them?
I wonder if this is how God feels when we misuse the gifts that He has so graciously provided to us. God has given us all gifts. Some of us have warp speed-brilliant intellect; some are drop dead gorgeous, financially blessed, athletically gifted, tall, dark, and handsome, at the top of our profession, fluent in many languages, educated at the finest schools, make friends easily and are popular, etc. Imagine how this makes God feel when those blessings and gifts He has given us are used in such a manner as to make others feel bad because they do not have all or even some of those blessings.
Too often we do not recognize our blessings as just that, blessings from on High. Instead, we attribute our God-given abilities, talent, looks, intellect, et al, to ourselves. Not only do we fail to thank God for them we misuse them.
I was fishing with some fellows one time. I have a unique gift for being able to easily catch fish while deep dropping. Deep dropping consists of fishing in 600 feet of water on the bottom. It takes a long time for the sinker to hit bottom in this deep water and it takes a long time to reel it to the surface; therefore, we switch off fisherman with each drop. More often than not as soon as the sinker hits the bottom, within seconds I am reeling up a huge fish and often two at a time. Sure enough I caught over ten fish and neither one of the guys with me had caught their first fish. I could see their frustration as I caught fish after fish with ease and they struggled with miss after miss and reeling up 600 feet of empty line.
Honestly I don’t know how I do it. I just feel the fish bite and react and hook them. I tried to show them, but they could not seem to get the hang of it. I saw them becoming more and more frustrated with every fish I hauled in.
Finally. I decided to just quit fishing entirely and went up in the tower where I could observe them and leave them to themselves. They were about equal in their efforts and although it was a struggle, eventually they caught several fish and had a great time doing it. When I was efficiently catching fish after fish, they were miserable because I was showing them up; after I stopped fishing and outdoing them and they were on equal footing with each other, they were fine.
I have to be honest, in the past I might have just poured it on and started bragging, taunting them, and making fun of them with each fish I caught, but lately I have been thinking along these lines of recognizing that whatever talent and natural abilities that I have come from above and are a blessing from God and should definitely not be used for bad purposes.
I missed my turn catching a few fish, but I very much enjoyed watching them have fun and I enjoyed the day from my perch high above the boat where I could gaze out at the beautiful blue ocean and bluebird sky. While up there as I often do, I thanked God more than once for everything He has given me.
I think God likes for us to assume this line of thinking. If you are tall be considerate to the short person. If you are strong, lend a helping hand to the weak one. If you are rich spread it around some. Whatever you do, please do not use your gifts to make others feel bad.
Matt. 5:7
Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart
for they shall see God.