God’s Gifts, Our Response

Have you ever given a gift to someone who tried to refuse it?

You’ve probably heard things like, “this is too much” or “I can’t take this.”

It’s almost like they feel unworthy of the gift.

And honestly… I get that.

Because in a culture where we are taught to earn everything, receiving a gift can feel uncomfortable.
By definition, a gift is something we cannot earn.

The Oxford dictionary defines a gift as: a thing given willingly to someone without payment.

I’ve realized something about myself.

I like giving gifts more than receiving them.
Not because I don’t enjoy getting gifts… but because I don’t always feel worthy of them.

I struggle with allowing blessings.
And if I’m honest, that shows up in my relationship with God too.

I think a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners struggle with this.

We don’t want handouts.
We don’t want pity.
We want to say, I did this. I earned this.

But where does that leave us with the gifts God gives us?

In 1 Kings 3, there’s a well-known story about Solomon.

God comes to him in a dream and says,
“Tell me what I should give you.”

The God of the universe… asking you what gift you want.

Think about that for a second.
What would you ask for?

Money?
Influence?
A gift that guarantees success?

Solomon says something that always catches me.

“I am a mere child—I don’t know how to lead.”

He starts with his inadequacy.
And then he asks for a heart that can understand and discern.

And if I’m honest… that’s where I tend to get stuck.

I care deeply about purpose.
I want to walk in what God has for me.

But too often it looks like this:

God speaks…and I respond with,
“I can’t.”
“I’m not ready.”
“I’m not enough.”

I stay in the place of inadequacy…
instead of moving forward with what He’s given me.

And I think that’s one side of how we handle God’s gifts.

The truth is, we have all been given gifts.

Not earned.
Not deserved.
Given.

And sometimes… we don’t carry them.

We minimize them.
We hide them.
We play small.

I know I have.

But there’s another side.

Solomon did receive the gift.

God gave him wisdom and discernment, and we see him use it immediately.
The gift worked. It was real.

But later… Solomon drifted.

The gift didn’t protect him from drift.

He had wisdom—yet still turned toward things that pulled him away from God.
At some point, the gift became familiar. Normal. Expected.

Maybe even something he felt ownership over, instead of grateful for.

And slowly… he stopped seeking God the same way.

He drifted.

And I think that’s the other side of the tension.

We can forget where the gift came from.
We can let pride creep in.
We can stop depending on God.

We stop showing up like a child…
and start acting like the source.

We can forget that without the gifts God has given us, we would have nothing.

I have seen this in business first hand…the drift.

People start with the posture of,
“I need God.”

And over time it quietly shifts to,
“I built this.”

That shift is subtle.

But it changes everything.

I think that the tension we live in as leaders, business owners, and entrepreneurs.

If we reject the gifts God gives us,

we never step into what He’s called us to do.

We play small.
We hold back.
We don’t serve the people we’re meant to serve.

But if we take those gifts and make them our own,
we drift.

It becomes about us, not Him.
And we still miss what we were created to do.

So, what is the answer?

I believe it's our posture.

Coming back—again and again—to the place of a child in need of their heavenly father.

Dependent.
Open.
Grateful.

Receiving the gift.
Using the gift.
But never forgetting where it came from.

I’ve seen leaders who live this way.

They’re the ones you want to be around.
Nothing is beneath them.
Nothing is above them.

They’re just… humbly submitted to what God desires for their life.

That’s the kind of person I want to be.

And I think it starts here:

Positioning ourselves daily before God—
our provider, our source, our gift-giver—

and remembering:

Everything I have…
came from Him.