Common Grace changes everything.
I really think that understanding common grace is vitally important to keeping a humble outlook on the world.
We did nothing to deserve to live. We did nothing to put this planet exactly the right distance from the sun to make it a comfortable temperature. We did not create an atmosphere that sustains life. We did not put the moon in orbit just the right distance way to keep the tides and the winds going. Everything that we have is an absolute gift from God. Most folks take all of this for granted. When people die, we call it a tragedy, but in truth it is a miracle that we live at all.
Once we have something, we think we deserve to have it. But if we don't deserve to exist, how can we deserve anything that we have? We don't. We need to be thankful for everything.
I see this played out in a smaller scale with the economy. The banks made a massive amount of loans. The money that was loaned out was spent - on houses, on factories, on products that those factories made... All of this spending created jobs. Turns out that the banks where not so wise to make all of those loans. The banks recognized their error, and they stopped giving out so many loans.. As a result, it is harder to build houses, build factories, and buy stuff that the factories make. Jobs are going away.. Everyone is mad at the banks. But if the banks hadn't made the loans in the first place, the jobs wouldn't have been there to lose.. We are unthankful for the blessing, taking for granted the fact that for quite some time we where able to have something that we couldn't have had, if it hadn't been for the banks.
