A Thanksgiving Query

What do you have that you did not receive?

The first person to ask this question was Paul in a letter to the Corinthians. He was their father in the faith and part-time pastor. He wanted these believers to think carefully about how full they were in Christ, how rich, how privileged. He desired that they ponder the true source of all these blessings: “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor. 4:7).

In posing this searching question, Paul is actually rebuking them. When they surveyed all their advantages and gains, it is as if Paul asks them, “Tell me, did you earn any of it? Is any of this a credit to your own goodness, or a result of your own effort, or the product of your own wisdom?”

Absolutely everything the Corinthians possessed was given to them. So for us:

Absolutely everything that we have is a gift.

Paul’s question reveals the heart of what it means to be a human being, and what it means to be a child of God, redeemed by His grace in Christ. His question humbles the proud, enlightens the ignorant, and refocuses the preoccupied.

Paul’s rebuke is made more direct with his follow-up question in the second half of the verse: “Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”

The Corinthians were, in fact, bragging about their spiritual gifts and lauding their charismatic leaders. They acted as if it was all to their credit. But those who are the recipients of another person’s generosity really have nothing to brag about.

If we enjoy an advantaged position, special privileges, and notable gifts, it is all through the Father’s benevolence. Then we dare not boast in our status or achievements, but we ought to be grateful. Nor should we be selfish by hoarding or squandering what has been entrusted to our care, but we ought to be giving. 

The questions of 1 Corinthians 4:7 should prompt me to review my life and all that is in it. I look at not just the material things that can be detailed on a spreadsheet, but the relational gifts, the communal, the emotional and spiritual. And I need to see that everything I have and everything I am are given.

What do I have that I did not receive? Absolutely nothing! God’s gifts have abounded from the moment when I was conceived and even long before, as He prepared and accomplished my salvation through Christ. I have always been on the receiving end.

And this leaves just one response: gratitude.

As I survey all that I’ve been given by God the Father and reflect on who I’ve become through my union with Christ and the transforming work of His Spirit, I realize that this inventory activity will never be done.

For as long as I live, I can keep counting and treasuring, and the task will still not be completed.

I humbly acknowledge all of it to be a gift. Because I am always tempted to glory in myself, I need to hear God’s wise command to give thanks to Him. Being by nature ungrateful, I need the help of God’s Spirit to move me to worship and praise. For I confess that even this slowly growing grateful spirit is a gift from him.

To Him be all thanksgiving and honor, forever and ever!

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Excerpt from Thank God: Becoming More Grateful to the Greatest of Givers