James 1:17, Good and Perfect Gifts from God
James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.”
James 1:13 told us that “God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.” Temptation to evil does not come from God. Our own lust is what draws us away to entice us. God gives to us out of His great love for us. He gives in recognition of our temporal needs during this life and our spiritual needs in regards to our eternal future. We see in James that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.”
Before considering the two types of gifts mentioned in this passage, we should meditate on the word every. We have every reason to give God all the glory for the good things in our life, and we have every reason to reprimand our lust and our flesh for the sinful things we allow to enter our lives. Our flesh is self-destructive, but God gives every good and perfect gift. Every one of these good and perfect gifts come from God because He knows how to give such good and perfect things far beyond our ability to give.
“Every good gift.”
God cares for us in this life. Some believe God to be the Beginner of all things, but He has left us to fend for ourselves as history unfolds of its own accord. They picture God as a “great Clock-winder,” having set us in motion to just watch without interference or not watch and care at all. Logically, this position makes no sense as it does not match any character we can understand. Why would God create as carefully as He did to just remain “hands off” for the rest of our time? But more importantly, the Bible asserts frequently that God is concerned with the affairs of mankind. After all, we belong to God; we are His creation made in His image.
“Every good gift…is from above” shows us that God cares about us in this life. He wants us to be able to live for Him without the burden of having to fend for ourselves. God takes care of our physical need. He does expect us to work the opportunities He allows, providing through the jobs He sends our way. He knows that work is good for us. After all, He did design for us to work (the curse is in the pain of work, not the work itself). But God is interested in meeting our physical, temporal needs. We can and must trust Him for these needs.
Jesus teaches us in Luke 12 that God cares for our physical needs. He first directs us to “consider the ravens: for they neither son nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them.” We worry about our physical state and want to make sure we have done everything we can do to have a guaranteed, secure future, but our worry and our planning removes our faith. We need to trust God, for if God feeds the ravens who does nothing to prepare his own way and considering “how much more are ye better than the fowls?” as Jesus also stated, then we see that we can rely on God’s good gifts to sustain us. In fact, Jesus concludes by stating, “And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind…but rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.” He guarantees that if we will keep our eyes on the kingdom of God instead of on the temporary, He will take care of all these other things. God gives every good gift.
“Every perfect gift.”
God also gives what we need with eternity in mind. Everything that we will receive to mold us into the Christian we ought to be comes from God. God gives every gift that perfects us and brings us to maturation as God sees fit. Eternity should be the main focus of our lives, and God gives us what we need in this area also.
The design of God’s Word equips us with the necessities to mold us. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 instructs, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” All Scripture, given by God, profits us by bringing us to completion and fully furnishing us unto all good works. God’s Word is a perfect gift that is “quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). We rely on Scripture to guide us toward laying up treasure in Heaven with eternity in mind.
In reflection of God’s perfect gifts in his own life, Paul asserted in 1 Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am.” God’s grace is another of His perfect gifts that brings us to spiritual maturity. God sees in us what we can be in Him and molds us, if we are willing, into what we never thought we could be. We can only attribute the outcome to God perfect gift and echo, “Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” For it is not in ourselves that we find what we need, but it is in the perfect gifts of God. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me,” Philippians 4:13. God gives every perfect gift.
Consider today the gifts that God gives, and it should not surprise us that every good and every perfect gift is from God. Luke 11:13 notes, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” God knows how to give.
