NT Promise 60: Every Good Gift

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.

Anything good that we enjoy in this life is a gift from God. Good things come from Above, from heaven, from the spiritual realm on the other side of the veil that separates the visible from the invisible. In a broken, sinful, fallen, and evil world everything in it breaks, fails, disappoints, and dies. That is life on earth without God. ”All is vanity, and a striving after wind.”

However, God has invaded our world in the person and work of the Son. He has earned the blessing and gift of the Spirit, whom He has poured out on all flesh. The Spirit delivers the gifts of God ”from above.” And He continues to visit us with His good and perfect gifts.

These good gifts include invisible, spiritual blessings like forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation, and countless other promises. And in addition, He gives the faith, hope, and love that enables us to enjoy the material gifts of God’s good Creation, and all the gifts included in ”daily bread.” Health, family, friends, food, drink, and creature comforts, for example, are all to be enjoyed with thanksgiving. In faith in a good God, we may ”eat, drink, and be merry,” in the good and proper sense of going about daily life with thanks, faith, and the joy of the Lord.