Every Good Gift

James wrote,

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 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. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. (James 1:16-18)

Why do you suppose he began with "Do not be deceived"? Could it be that ... we are often easily deceived? Perhaps. I do know that we are often deceived about where good things come from.

We are proud Americans. Okay, proud humans. We work hard, we earn our way, we get what we want. Good. We cherish the word, "deserve," because we think we do ... deserve all kinds of good things. We've got it coming. So when James says, "Do not be deceived," I think he's seeing it right. I think we think we earn and obtain good stuff all on our own. James says ... no. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above." "Every" is pretty all-inclusive. Your skills and talents, your friends and family, your job, your home, your spouse ... well, this will be a long list ... every good thing is from above. Without exception. Including the bad things. Because, after all, "We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Rom 8:28).

At this point, then, we might begin to see that we have, in fact, been deceived. Good things often come from our own hard work ... except Scripture disagrees. And bad things are from the devil ... except Scripture disagrees. And maybe ... just maybe ... we might realize we've been a tad ungrateful. Something to consider on this day that the Lord has made ... as a good gift.