James the apostle writes in his letter, Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows(James 1:17)
When I look at Gods gifts I can see that he gives life, light, the glory of nature, the golden sunrise, the deep colours of sunset on snow capped peaks, the lush greenery of a forest, the blaze of colour in a flowering field, and many other things that we all can stand in wonder of, if we just take a moment. God gives bountifully of all these things no matter what your persuasion is. The believer, the atheist, the agnostic, the pagan and the heathen, all may enjoy these good gifts. God lets it rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. He gives these good gifts to all humanity.
Consider the amazing abilities of humans, whether in technology, construction, sport, music, writing, art – the list goes on and on. And God provided it all to everyone. People from all backgrounds have been blessed with a measure of these. And where do these abilities come from if not from the Father of lights, the giver of all good gifts?
Yet, on the other hand there is much suffering and sorrow in the world. Humans have dumped themselves into a vortex of hate, greed, recklessness and the things that have caused wholesale suffering. One may just look at the world and its politics to see how bad it gets. We see both good and evil in the world and in human nature.
But what are the good gifts God gives the believer who also has to live through good and bad in this world? These are the very people James was addressing, encouraging them to count it all joy when they fall into various trials.
Salvation
First and foremost Jesus said whoever believes in the only Son of God shall be saved. Saved from what? He or she would be saved from the wages of sin which is eternal death. Like Jesus said of the tax collector who stood in the temple and beat his breast saying God have mercy on me a sinner. I tell you this man went down to his house justified… (Luke 18:13,14.)
Assurance of forgiveness
Because of our wrong doings in life we sometimes walk around riddled with guilt. Some people try to rationalise the guilt but it wont go away.
Many are the occasions that our indiscretions of the past try to haunt us. Because of such things some people go to psychologists to find solutions. But no human advice can do what the shed blood of Jesus can. Only through Jesus can we have the assurance that all is forgiven, both past and present and even future. Only in Christ are we freed. As Paul said, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. (Romans 8:1)
Furthermore we have the assurance that if we sin again and we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
The Holy Spirit
Then Jesus also said the Father of lights and giver of good gifts will give us the gift of the Holy Spirit so much more than our earthly parents can do for us. He told his disciples that though he would go away, he would send the promise of the Father as prophesied in Joel 2:28, which happened on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit descended on them and has remained since then, in and with all believers.
When we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit on accepting Christ, we do not receive the spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power and love and of self discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). That power enables us to withstand the onslaught of the evil one, to resist him and then he will flee from us.
Love
In Galatians 5:22,23 we are told of the fruit that the Spirit will produce in us. There are nine aspects (which would take a study in itself) of this fruit which starts off with and is enveloped by love. Because God loved us first we are enabled to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and our neighbours as ourselves. Love is so important that Paul defined what love is and what we can be through love in 1 Corithians 13, concluding that there are three things remaining – faith, hope, and love, of which love is the greatest.
A sound mind
This allows us to live in hope of salvation, redemption and eternal life as children of the Living God. When troubles strike us we may sometimes get confused and even lose hope, but when we wait on the Lord he carries us through.
In the seventy odd years that I have been blessed to live committed to Christ I can say with king David that a righteous man may have many afflictions but the Lord delivers him from them all (Psalm 34:19). There were times when I did not know how to pray but just had to wait silently and then look back and see that I was not alone. Even when I was ready to deny the existence of God, he patiently waited for me to turn around and look up and see the magnitude of his glory and creation. And he said as to Job, where were you when I laid the earths foundation? (Job 38:4)
Peace
Jesus also said Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid (John 14:27). In the deepest of trouble he gives us peace beyond understanding.
Hope
And then he gives us the ultimate gift of eternal life and joyful hope of being with him eternally where there will be no sorrow and pain, and all tears will be wiped away (Revelation 21:4).
Salvation, forgiveness, peace,hope, love and a sound mind are but some of the good gifts promised to the believer. They are very real. But more real than them all is Jesus. He is our Salvation, our Forgiveness, our Peace, our Hope, our Love and our Sanity – the ultimate Good and Perfect Gift, come down from the Father.
For the person who is not a believer, whether atheist, agnostic, pagan or heathen these good gifts are also there to be enjoyed. By accepting the offer of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and trusting God to give you his Holy Spirit, you will experience new life and divine relationship with the Triune God who is the giver of all good gifts.
The choice is yours.