God is the giver of good gifts – enjoy them!

Pastor’s Pulpit By Pastor Tom Davidson James 1:17: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” Our search for joy takes us many different directions - dream vacations, shopping, food, clothes, friends, cars - the list is almost endless. My guess is that if you perked up at the mention of shopping, vacations, or cars, you might have felt a little twinge of guilt. Because we often view the joy of gifts/ temporary things as less than spiritual and show our discomfort by apologizing for nice things: “You know, I wouldn’t have bought this, but someone gave me a great deal.” As if real Christians never eat quiche, drive cool cars, or wear designer clothes! Some people have a high IQ. They didn’t give themselves this ability. God gave them the mental capacity. Everything that we have is “from God.” We love to take the credit for who we are and what we do. But, when we stop to think, we remember we operate by God’s unadulterated grace. Any prosperity that we possess came from God. Every good and perfect gift that we receive comes from the hand of God. Our life, our families, our new church, everything good comes from the Father of heavenly lights. And God doesn’t change like shifting shadows, for He’s always faithful and dependable. We haven’t always experienced such consistency and purity in our earthly relationships have we? Some gifts that we’ve received have come with strings attached and people that we’ve trusted in; have changed like the seasons. But God isn’t like that. He’s the giver of good gifts and He never changes. Never. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever. His love isn’t fickle or conditional, His gifts are showered on us, not because we’ve earned them, but because He loves to give good gifts to the ones He adores. Not only is God good in the gifts He gives, but in who He is. That is, He’s not moody. He doesn’t have bad days. He’s not generous with me one day, but grouchy the next - as I can so often be. We’re variable. We go up and down. God doesn’t. He can be nothing but good. He doesn’t react to me according to how I’m doing with Him. He’s faithful when I am faithless. He’s good when I’m grumpy. He doesn’t change. He’s locked into His nature. He always gives on the basis of His character. He doesn’t stop giving to us just because we fail Him. God gives to us on the basis of His character and not on the basis of our character. God never gives us anything on the basis of who and what we are. God doesn’t bless us because we tithe, witness or pray. We never earn or deserve anything from God. Everything that God gives, whether it’s spiritual, physical or social, is “perfect.” That’s why I love the Lord so much. He’s solid as a rock. And I can just enjoy Him without worrying about Him being ticked off at me or tired of me. He gives nothing but good gifts, for He’s a good God. The source of our gifts is in the person of God. Every golden sunrise is a token of our Father's affection. He paints the sky with rainbows and scatters clouds simply for our delight. All of creation bears witness to His love and His majesty. If we begin to understand that all we receive in life comes as a gift from our Heavenly Father, then we’ll begin to look at even the simple things with awe and child-like wonder. Our Father is the most generous person in the universe. For God so loved the world that he gave. What did he give? He gave us hope, He gave us faith, He gave us forgiveness, and He gave us love. The gift of God is eternal life thru Jesus Christ our Lord. Let’s remember that God’s gift are continual, His mercies are new every morning. He gave you the breath of life today, and with that breath you’re to praise Him. Let us commit to never forgetting that every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who doesn’t change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created. God never lets us down. We fail Him but He never fails us. None of us deserves the right to live on the face of this earth. We deserve death and Hell. The only reason God allows us to walk on this earth is because of His grace. He never charges us for anything. We don’t pay Him for the sunshine we enjoy. “Since he didn’t spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?” No doubt God’s greatest gift to us is our relationship with His Son Jesus. It’s a gift beyond comparison. Jesus promised that when we abide in Him; we’ll experience the fulfillment of His joy, and without that kind of deep, abiding joy; the rest of life is mundane at best. But Scripture also casts the joy of the Lord in terms of temporal things. The enjoyment of “things” can be a positive spiritual experience. When we recognize that He “gives us richly all things to enjoy” and that “every good gift . . . is from above”, our hearts should be full of thankfulness and praise. This, in and of itself, is an act of worship! Enjoy the Giver and the gifts.

God is the giver of good gifts – enjoy them!

Patrick Henry Sweeney

Related Posts

Keep the High Country Clean: Your Complete Guide to Waste Management with Timberline Disposal

When the Lights Go Out: Why Power Outages Are Becoming Part of Daily Life

Craig Station’s Final Chapter: Can Federal Intervention Save Moffat County’s Economic Lifeline?

Central City Has Never Been Afraid of Big Moments. Until Now.

Colorado’s Quiet Watch: How Real ID, License-Plate Cameras, and Ring Doorbells Are Building a Shadow Surveillance State—and What Citizens Can Still Do to Opt Out

About Us

Quick Links

News Categories

Weekly Newsletter

Welcome Back!

Retrieve your password

Are you sure want to unlock this post?

Are you sure want to cancel subscription?

God is the giver of good gifts – enjoy them!

Support authors and subscribe to content

Subscribe

Related Posts

About Us

Quick Links

News Categories

Weekly Newsletter

Welcome Back!

Retrieve your password