"Everything good comes from God. These good gifts come down from the Father who made all the lights in the sky. But God never changes like the shadows from those lights. He is always the same." (ERV)
The English Standard Version reads:
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from
the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to
change."
This verse is so profound in
meaning. I've heard it used many times in reference to all our blessings
coming from the Heavenly Father above. While this is true, what is said
in the passage goes so much deeper than that (at least in my opinion).
The verses leading up to 17
explain that no temptation comes from God. Verse 16 is a warning, “Do not
be deceived, my beloved brothers.” We cannot allow ourselves to be fooled
about this, evil does not come from God. He may test us through trials
and tribulations (James 1:2-3). If we
need help to face these trials, we should pray for wisdom and trials (v. 5);
but God will never tempt us to sin.
In verse 17 James proceeds to
tell us what does come from God - namely good. Every GOOD -- every PERFECT
gift comes from our Father. We must never doubt where our blessings come
from nor can we fail to be thankful for those gifts. We mustn’t take what
we have for granted.
Take a minute to digest this ... do we have
anything good in our life? Maybe our home, our clothing or the food in
our refrigerator, would we say those things are good? What about the TV
or computer that we use for entertainment? Consider things more intrinsic
in value like our family and friends. Do
these people count for good in our life? Then please remember it came
from God.
We aren't nearly thankful enough. Think about this really long and hard for just
a few minutes ....everything good in your life comes from one source... our
Heavenly Father. It is just that marvelously simple! Everything you
enjoy, every person that causes you to smile, every good memory you have and every
bite of food you've ever eaten, every hug you enjoyed and every bright blue sky
you've ever seen all comes from God.
God is our Father. He is a perfect
parent who loves us immensely. Jesus reminds us if we give good gifts to
our children, how much more will our Father in heaven give good gifts to us. (Matthew 7:11) Through His great love that is what our
Father longs to do. Just as we love to
make our children happy, God loves to make us happy.
James calls Him the Father of
lights and aptly so. God created the light. Genesis 1:2-3:
"The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of
the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
And God said, ‘Let there be light and there was light’."
Light is the one of greatest blessings
God has ever given us for we cannot live without it. Physically our Earth cannot survive without
the light of the sun. Spiritually speaking, we cannot live without the
Light of the Son of God. So however we may look at this verse God is the
Father of Lights for Jesus is His Son and "the Light of the world."
(John 8:12)
One of the best
things about our living God is that He never changes. The Father of lights will always be the
same. He will always be the giver of good and perfect gifts. He
will give us the strength and wisdom we need to make it in this world. And he will never tempt us to sin.
In fact, God’s immutability should be of great
comfort to the faithful Christian. It is
a great blessing in and of itself. We
can depend on His unchanging grace and unfailing promise to give us eternal
life. Consider Psalm 102:25-28:
“Of old you laid the foundation
of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they
will all wear out like a garment. You
will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same and
your years have no end. The children of
your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before
you.”
God
will always bless His children. We are
part of a kingdom that will never pass away.
When Jesus promised to build His church, He said that even the gates of
hell would not prevail against it. Peter
tells us our salvation through the resurrection of Jesus is for an inheritance
that is “imperishable, undefiled and unfading.”
(I Peter 1: 4)
He also reminds us
that our souls were purified by obedience to the truth and we are born again of
imperishable seed ‘through the living and abiding word of God, … because the
word of the Lord remains forever.’ (verses 22-25)
Other
verses declare the immutability of God.
As Christians we can take great comfort in knowing that HE is our one
true and living God. He does not change. He loves us and is the giver of all good
gifts we receive. He loves to bless His
children – those who choose to follow Him and His precious Son. His love and mercy is constant and true. His word will abide forever. His church will survive throughout the ages. He is the Father of Lights and He will never tempt us with evil. For the Spirit promises in James 1:12 if we stay strong and endure when we are tempted, then we will get the best gift of all.
“Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love Him.”
Christ
above all things,
Robin
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