Appreciation

Let's talk appreciation. Most Americans know that if you buy property, it's a good investment because ... what? ... because it appreciates. Now, I don't really have to explain the term to you, but I will because it's important to this discussion. To "appreciate" means to increase in value. It is the opposite of "depreciate." If you buy a new car, the moment you drive that car off the lot, it depreciates -- it drops in value. When I was in high school, my parents bought a nice 4-bedroom home in a nice community in Pasadena for around $36,000. That wasn't cheap back then. But after I grew up and moved out and Dad retired, they sold it. Not for $36,000. No, they sold it for $265,000. A few years ago my dad complained, "I should have kept that house." Now it's worth around $3 million. Appreciation.

But, of course, we use that same term in another application. I might say, "I appreciate you" or "I appreciate what you've done." What's the connection to real estate? None, of course, but the principle is the same. To appreciate something in this sense means to value it, to consider it of worth. Note that in both the real estate and the personal appreciation the value is applied and not necessarily actual. Dad didn't do anything to that house to make it worth more than 7 times what he paid for it. No, it was the market or, more precisely, the buyers who assigned the worth. In the same sense, when we appreciate something, we assign worth to it. When I retired they threw me a retirement party which included gifts, and, of course, I got a final paycheck. Now, the paycheck was much more money than the gifts were worth, but I appreciated the gifts more than the paycheck because I earned that paycheck, but the gifts were above and beyond. Perhaps, then, you can see the connection of "appreciate" to "grateful." We are grateful for the things to which we assign value and not so much for the things that we expect we are due.

Scripture says we humans have a conflict with God. Although He made everything and put us in it and made it clear to us He did that, we "did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him" (Rom 1:21). We didn't appreciate Him. Why? Well, we figured it was our just due. We figured we were so important that we had it coming. Like a kid who has seen 12 Christmases come and go and, therefore, expects mom and dad to give him what he wants, we do not appreciate God. You can tell this is true because when some good we expect does not occur, we question God. "Why would a good God allow that??" Because we expect good and don't appreciate -- apply value to -- it. We have overinflated egos and think God owes us because, after all, we are so very important and so very loveable. And we're not. Which is why we are under God's wrath (Rom 1:18). Which is why we need redemption. Which is why we need Jesus. And when that entitlement creeps back in, it's why we fail to appreciate the grace and mercy we've received. "Ungrateful" is an unpleasant word that applies to most of us at times. And it's a problem of failing to appreciate -- apply value to -- God and His kindness.