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Plainly Speaking
with Karl J. Forehand
Faithful
Receiving
(James 1:17-18)
by
Karl J. Forehand
Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is
from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no
variation, or shifting shadow. In the
exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we
might be, as it were, the first fruits among His creatures. (James 1:17-18)
If we are going to talk about what it good, maybe we should look at
what is good and what is not. Matthew
7:11 tells us:
"If you then, being evil, know how to give good
gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give
what is good to those who ask Him!
(Matthew 7:11))
We immediately gravitate toward this verse when we talk about prayer
and good gifts because it uses the phrase “good gifts.” We talk about the fact that God, like a
parent, desires to give good gifts to His children. This fact is true, but we still are left with the
question: What is good? A rich man approached Jesus with the
following question:
"Teacher, what good thing shall
I do that I may obtain eternal life?"
(Matthew 19:16)
To
this question, Jesus replied:
Why are you
asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good (Matthew 19:17a)
Jesus stressed, to the rich
man, that he was asking the wrong question.
You cannot do a good enough thing to inherit eternal life if you are
not good – there is only One that is ultimately good – God is
good. But what about Barnabus?
(of Barnabus) for he was a good man, and full of the
Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the
Lord. (Acts 11:24)
Barnabus was considered good, because
He was full of the Holy Spirit (God) by faith. God is good, when we are full of God (which implies empty of
ourselves) then we can be considered good.
Why? Because God is good. Paul tells us the problem with that:
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in
my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is
not. For the good that I wish, I do
not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. But if I am doing the very thing I do not
wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. (Romans 7:18-20)
The problem with us being good,
is that our flesh is NOT good. It
constantly battles to perform evil within us and we don’t do the good
that we hope to do. What is God’s
intention?
And 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. (Romans 8:28)
God has works
in our lives to produce good, even out of our shortcomings. God’s will is good (Romans12:2). His good overcomes evil (Rom. 12:21). God has even prepared good works to act
out in our lives (Eph. 2:10). The
bottom line: God is good.
God
intends to do good in our lives. He
is good. He intends to do that by His
Holy Spirit. He intends to overcome
the evil desires in our lives. He
intends to work through circumstances in our lives. His will is good – His work is good – His desire is consistent
for our lives.
Many of us have
a “chicken fried steak” mentality. I
love chicken fried steak. In my mind,
chicken fried steak is good. It
tastes good – it leaves me with a good feeling. In my mind, I assume it is what I need. In reality, it is not what I need – it is
what I often want. Although it is
something I want, it may not be the best thing for me ultimately.
However, we
assume “If God gives good gifts, then what seems good to me must be what He
wants to give me.” Our mind goes to
physical things like provision, protection and permission; but what we WANT
is not necessarily the thing we need.
When we think
of good gifts, it often difficult to imagine the actual good that God wants
to infuse into our lives. Not only
can we not imagine it, we find it hard to explain when God does it. So, we say simply “God is good.” When we say “God is good,” we are saying
that not only does God give the best possible gifts, but He also gives them
in the best possible way. God is good
– the gifts He gives are good – the way He gives is good.
Rules
about receiving good gifts
1.
They are delivered
from above
The
Greek word for above is the same word Jesus used when Nicodemus asked Him
what he must do to be saved. Jesus
said, “You must be born again (anothem).”
Anothem means “from
above.” We must be re-born “from
above.” The good gifts must come from
above. What is given to us and how it
is give HAS to be good. This is why
we don’t always get what we want. We
are not always good.
Christmas
time, and other gift giving days, are difficult for some of us. We labor to choose the perfect gift. We strive to determine wants, desires and
hobbies. Sometimes, we even have
motives. I admit that I have bought
my son Nintendo games that I wanted to play.
We often buy clothes for people simply because they are on sale. My mom buys things a size too small to
remind me that I am overweight.
God is not like
us. He only gives what is best. He doesn’t have to spend time wondering
what is the best gift for us – He knows.
He doesn’t go bargain shopping – He owns everything.
We can’t
substitute anything for a heavenly gift.
We don’t have it to give.
Popularity, approval, respect and wealth won’t substitute for a
heavenly gift. Sometimes, the good
may not be all that pleasant (it may be things like discipline), but it will
be best.
My friend,
Kent, has labored with his wife through a lung transplant, complications and
now is facing moving to wait again for a transplant. I told him the other day, “You and your
wife know a closeness that most couples probably don’t even understand, much
less experience.” The trials and
discipline don’t seem like something we would want, but often they are best
for us.
2.
They are distributed by the Father.
The pastor doesn’t get to decide what
gives you receive. You also don’t get
to
decide.
Why the Father? Because God is the only one that cannot
get worse
or better.
Numbers 23:19 says:
God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man,
that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken,
and will He not make it good?
The
reason God gets to decide is because God is Holy. He is not just very good – He is not
just the best of the others – He is
holy! He cannot, does not, will not
ever change because He is holy. For
most of us, it is good for us to change because we are not holy. God is holy and deserves to call the
shots.
This
passage calls Him the Father of Lights stressing the similarities between the
continuous rays of the sun and the way God’s good gifts flow toward us. The verb here stresses that they are
“continually coming down,” not just as light, but from the Father of Lights –
the one that created the light. The
light does not create the shadows.
Other things create the shadows.
What is
blocking the light of God’s good gifts?
Satan wants to convince you that God is stingy. He tried to convince Eve that God was
holding something back from her. God
was not holding anything back. He is
continually trying to give the best, while we settle for less than that. God wants us to have the best. Don’t let Satan create shadows of
confusion. God continually is trying
to give us the best.
3.
They are designated by His will.
This passage
stresses that God “wills deliberately” to give us the good. The NIV says, “He chose.” The NAS says “in the exercise of His
will.” Why does God give good gifts?
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because we deserve them?
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because we are so special?
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because we are such a spiritual nation?
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Because he has leftover gifts that no one wants?
NO! He gives good gifts because He wants
to. He chose Israel because He wanted
to. He included the Gentiles because
He wanted to. He makes us the most
important of His creatures because He wants to. We are the first fruit.
We are set apart for salvation.
We are set apart to receive good gifts. In our privilege, as sons and daughters, we can’t become
spoiled children and exclaim, “I know what is best for me.” Only the one that is truly good can know
what is truly best for us.
Don’t forget
the following verse. Memorize it –
meditate upon it – let it become a part of your prayer life.
"Things which eye has not seen and ear has not
heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared
for those who love Him." (I
Corinthians 2:9)
Are you ready to
receive?
Karl
J. Forehand, 2002
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