A gift-giver has the moral right to expect the gift to be spent, used, or lived as intended by the giver. If you inherited a large sum of money from your (traditional Catholic) parents that they worked hard all their lives to accumulate, they’d have a right to expect you to use it wisely, and above all, not to use it in an evil way, putting your salvation in greater doubt.
Most people take their gift of life for granted and live it as they see fit, without considering restrictions from God or anyone else. WRONG! Your life is a magnificent gift from God, and in justice, ought to be lived as He requires. The Catholic Encyclopedia has this to say about supernatural gifts:
A supernatural gift may be defined as something conferred on nature that is above all the powers of created nature. When God created man, He was not content with bestowing upon him the essential endowments required by man’s nature. He raised him to a higher state, adding certain gifts to which his nature had no claim.[1]
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The absolutely supernatural gifts, which alone are the supernatural properly so called, are summed up in the Divine adoption of man to be the son and heir of God. This expression, and the explanations given of it by the sacred writers, make it evident that the sonship is something far more than a relation founded upon the absence of sin; it is of a thoroughly intimate character, raising the creature from its naturally humble estate, and making it the object of a peculiar benevolence and complaisance on God’s part, admitting it to filial love, and enabling it to become God’s heir, i.e., a partaker of God’s own beatitude. “God sent His Son…that He might redeem them who were under the law: that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God hath sent the spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying: Abba. Father. Therefore, now he is not a servant, but a son. And if a son, an heir also through God.”[2]
In the present world, life is not valued as the precious gift that it is. Therefore, it is easy for people to think they have the right to use it in any way they want – ignoring God’s Ten Commandments, one (or all), and thinking they are living a fuller, more enjoyable, and happy life.
But in reality, it is a most unfulfilled life, filled with drugs and alcohol, pleasure-seeking, futilely chasing after money, success, satisfaction, and happiness. It is like one of God’s fish trying to live out of water.
Real happiness in life is based on understanding and real appreciation of God’s gift of your life, and living it according to the Giver’s intention and plan.
God picked you to receive His gift of life. He could have chosen not to create you and to create someone else instead.
Show your appreciation by living a holy life to please Him. This has the (intended) consequence of bringing you untold happiness. You were created to be happy on earth and then to be perfectly happy with God forever in heaven.
When it comes to generosity, God is never outdone. In reality, you take far more than you give, whereas God gives and gives, wants your love, and waits for you to love Him in return.
So, realize Who is the Giver, and who is the one always taking. Your life will be happier if you make a real effort to live your gift of life by standing up for Him in this sea of evil called “the civilized world”.
Don’t worry. He knows of your love and appreciation of His gifts. He can read your heart. Oh, what a gift!