James 1:17 (Good Gifts)

Once again, I must veer away from where I "should" be going in 2 Corinthians this morning to something that was so powerful to me last night as I was doing a little reading.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."  James 1:17

I have the pleasure of studying the great book of James with about 15 other amazing women right now, and this was the verse for yesterday's study.  I was so filled up by it that I just have to share it with you this morning!

Here's the key word: EVERY.  Every single good thing in your life comes from your Creator, who loves you so intensely.  He's like a father wanting to give good gifts to His kids!  If we've got some good stuff going on in our lives right now, He's the one to thank!  That's just the kind of gift-giving God He is.

However, we often associate our temptations, our diseases, our lack of _____ with God's punishment.  We are often are like Proverbs 19:3,  "A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the Lord."  Umm....yes, that's me.  How many times have I made foolish choices, but then blamed the poor result on God?  But even in the midst of those choices, God blessed me with the gift of "getting caught" so that I could be more perfect, more complete, as His child in those stages of my life.  That was a "perfect"gift for me at the time, and I am much better for it now.

But sometimes, He lavishes us with gifts that we might more readily think of as "good".  For instance, the author of this study had us take our age and divide by four (to represent the four quarters of our lives) then begin listing gifts that we received in each quarter.  In my first quarter of life, I was over-whelmed with the gifts God gave me: two incredible, Christ-following parents, three younger sisters to play with, a woods in our backyard for amazing adventures, leading me to come to know him at the Little Lamb Preschool and Kindergarten at the age of 5, a large and loving extended family on both sides, and the list goes on...and though there was not much hardship in the first quarter, there was in the other quarters, and even hardship has been a gift to me.  I can say that with 100% honesty.

So, I challenge us today to think of all the "good and perfect gifts" you have received, the gifts you readily receive, and the difficult experiences that you can look back upon now and see how they actually were a gift.

Take some time with me to thank God for these things.  Don't you see how He's been working in your life all these years?  And He doesn't change...He will keep giving you gifts, so keep your eyes open to that today.  I'm sure He's getting 'em lined up right now...

Whatever is good in your life, thank Him for it today.

Thank you, Lord.  You are so incredibly much more than we could ever deserve.