God’s Good and Perfect Gifts

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with who is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." (James 1:17-18, KJV)

The reason I give the verses in the King James Version is because that is the version I used years ago when I committed the verses to memory. Surely enough, when I consulted my faithful and much-used copy of this version (which Bible was the first birthday giver Grover gave me after we began dating in 1948), there, neatly underlined, were these verses, calling attention to "God from whom all blessings flow," as our "Doxology" so aptly acclaims. What important truths these verses teach us!

God is a God of goodness and generosity. We can always depend upon His goodness. He wants to give us what is best for us. He is unchangeable and can be depended upon. Verse 18 tells us that we ourselves are God's gift. Here is Eugene Peterson's rendering of these verses in The Message Bible: "Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all His creation." We find an exuberant truth in some verses that add light to our being created by the very Word of God as the crown of His creation. Take heed: "You created everything, and it is for Your pleasure that they exist and were created." (Revelation 4:11, NLT) "The Lord takes pleasure in His people." (Psalm 149:41, TEV). "For God has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for His own glory." (Isaiah 61:3, LB) It is such an humbling experience to think that God created each one of us for His pleasure and for our fellowship with Him. Each of us is a good gift for God's fellowship and pleasure (and, I pray, growing and moving toward the day when we will be perfected, glorified).

In my current "ripe, old" age, I spend time recollecting. I can remember so many instances when my husband and I had so little that we often wondered where the next rent, the next college or graduate school tuition, even money for gasoline, electricity and food would come from. We prayed, asking God for specific needs. And through God's goodness, there it was-with some extra earnings, a special gift from the church where he was minister, or a provision we had not known existed. But in each instance, God was behind the gift, motivating people to share through love. And when we came to the point to become parents, we prayed for healthy children, dedicating them to Him while they were still in the womb. Not only was that prayer answered, but now, even to the fourth generation, we see our family members, their lives and service-and that which will come from the great grands, if the Lord tarries His coming until they grow up, a continuation of God's good gifts, His "firstfruits" and "crown of creation."

Let us never take for granted that we can make it on our own. Even the health and abilities we have to earn a living are gifts from God. Of all of God's creation, we are the first fruits. In Numbers 15:21 the Israelites were commanded: "From now on, ofter to the Lord the first part of your grain." And as "first fruits" of the Lord's creation, we are to offer our very best. He has already done this for us: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any many should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9, KJV) Our gift back to Him is our very life, surrendered, yielded, lovingly offered, even in a similar manner as He bestows good gifts on us. I am reminded of the tender song we sometimes sing:

"What can I give Him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a Lamb.

If I were a wise man, I would do my part;

Yet what can I give Him? Give Him my heart."

-Christina G. Rossetti (1830-1894)

Praise be to God! In return for His "good and perfect gifts," I give Him my heart, offering it anew every day.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Wednesday, October 13, 2010