As a minister, many people tell me about the things for which they are praying. Jesus taught us to ask for our daily bread. He also said whatever we ask in His name, God will give (John 14:14; Matthew 21:22). God does love to give gifts to His children--precious and wonderful gifts. When we do not have them, we deeply desire them. But when we receive them, it seems we all too often abuse them.

What Solomon did not have

Consider King Solomon. He was a young man when God appointed him to the office of king, and 1 Kings 3:5-13 records the wonderful, humble prayer of Solomon at that time. Instead of riches, he asked for wisdom to serve the people. God not only gave the gift of wisdom that King Solomon had asked for, He also added many other blessings and gifts. However, God did not add the willpower and character that would ensure that Solomon would always properly use the gifts God had given. We humans have to develop that character. That is our responsibility, a small way of showing we really do appreciate the gifts.

The sad story of King Solomon's later life reveals that he did things that showed a complete lack of wisdom at times. Marrying 1,000 women was one example. Trying to please his wives by allowing their idols to be placed around the temple was another.

Solomon ought to have been working for the betterment of the lives of his people. Instead, huge taxes and demands on the people for his pet construction projects resulted in turning the nation against the king. Solomon's decisions were not wise and godly in many areas. He turned to the "wisdom" of this world and away from the wisdom that God made available.

God had told Solomon that the blessings were tied in with Solomon's obedience (1 Kings 9:4), yet 1 Kings 11 records some of the wrong choices Solomon made by neglecting the wisdom God gave him. Because of these sins, God took most of the tribes of Israel away from his son, and Solomon lived to experience many problems in his land.

Spiritual gifts

The church in Corinth is another example of abused and neglected gifts. The first 11 verses of 1 Corinthians 12 mention some spiritual gifts God gave to the church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 12:1-11), such as the "word of wisdom through the Spirit" and "the word of knowledge through the same Spirit." However, throughout the book of 1 Corinthians Paul cited many problems in that congregation. There were divisions, factions and gross misconduct. In chapter 14, we can see the gift of tongues was abused. As a loving parent, God withdraws His gifts when abuse occurs. Those who are parents know this is the right and necessary thing to do--you can't keep giving the car keys to a son who drives recklessly.

Luke 9:1 tells of the time when Jesus gave the gift of healing and the ability to recognize and cast out demons to His 12 disciples, including Judas. Others were also sent out with great gifts in the next chapter. It was an amazing experience for these men. They were to take no spare shoes, no money and no provisions. God made sure they were supplied with everything they needed for the trip.

After all this, after seeing countless blessings and miracles, how could Judas become such a betrayer of his Friend? How is it that humans can receive great and precious gifts from God and yet go so far off track? How can we discredit the Creator of the universe with our errors and petty acts? What is the source of our lack of appreciation? How can we abuse the gifts God gives? And yet, many do just that. Neglecting God's gifts can have a deadly end. One of the greatest gifts is God's Holy Spirit, and 1 Thessalonians 5:19 warns us not to quench it. The warning should indicate that we can, indeed, quench this gift. Hebrews 6:4-6 warns those who fall away that there may be no way back. The awesome gift of God's Holy Spirit that imparts understanding in spiritual matters is all too often ignored or put aside with the passage of time. Therefore, we are told to repent and overcome.

Why is there a constant force we must resist in order to remain on the "straight and narrow"? Why are we tested every day? Why must we be on guard and examine ourselves on a regular basis?

Where the problem began: Lucifer

It may come as a surprise to hear that God also filled Lucifer with wisdom. Ezekiel 28 describes some of the gifts God gave to this wonderful angelic being that He lovingly created. Verses 12 and 13 explain that Lucifer was full of wisdom and beauty (Ezekiel 28:12-13). "Every precious stone" can be thought of as a variety of gifts that were given. A parallel exists with Solomon here. The difference is Lucifer had much more to answer for, because he knew his Creator intimately and saw God every day. Lucifer and the angels with him had no excuse. They could not claim ignorance and human weakness as we so often do.

Ezekiel explains in verses 17 to 19 that Lucifer was proud of his own beauty: "You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor." Lucifer allowed vanity and pride to cloud his reason (Ezekiel 28:17-19).

The gifts God gives are always good. He cannot give bad gifts to anyone because He is God. He lets us decide what to do with these gifts. Since Lucifer made his wrong choice and became Satan, the adversary, he works to influence us to make the wrong choices too. He wants us to neglect and abuse the gifts of God. Too often we do not keep our guard up, though we are faced with a hateful, angry and powerful enemy. Mankind follows Satan's influence and way. Pride, vanity and the lust for power are the driving forces behind the corruption of ideals and introduction of destructive forces. We all have excuses for not following the Bible carefully. We have excuses for all of our wrong actions including lying, theft and spreading malicious gossip. Power breeds corruption and an even greater need for power and control.

When the focus is on the self, we move away from godliness. Christ's focus was outward--He came to lay down His life for this world. His followers and all who partake of heavenly gifts are to become like Him.

Thankfully, we humans can be forgiven our weaknesses and errors, because of God's greatest gift--His Son who came to die as a Savior for us. But although we have a Savior, we are not freed from fighting sin to show we want to be like our Savior who detests sin. We need to constantly remind ourselves of this wonderful gift. If we should ever lose our sense of appreciation, then we too would have no further gifts from God. Use the gifts God gives wisely and use them to His glory.