Bible Reading: James 1:12-17
Key Verse: Verse 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.”
Key Words: cometh down from the Father
Every good and
perfect (maturing) gift comes from the Father. We should be thankful for this –
that God is perfecting and maturing us.
The one thing
I have discovered in my years in the ministry is that genuine thankfulness is a
rarity.
A soldier
serving during World War II in the American Third Army was sent to a rest camp
after a period of active service. When
he returned to his outfit, he wrote a letter to General George Patton and
thanked him for the splendid care he had received. General Patton wrote back and thanked him for
his letter. In that letter he said in
part, “For thirty-five years I have sought to give comfort and convenience to
all the men in the Armed Forces, but this is the first letter of thanks that
I’ve ever received for those thirty-five years of service.” There are fewer points in which human nature
is lacking than that of gratitude.
Matthew Henry,
the famous scholar, was once accosted by thieves who robbed him of all the
possessions he had on him. He later
wrote in his diary, “Let me be thankful first because I was never robbed
before; second because, although they took my purse, they did not take my life;
third because, although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth because
it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.”
We all have
something each and everyday for which we should be thankful. Should we not begin to put God’s goodness
into words of gratitude?
Dr. Mike Rouse
What to do:
✞ Everyday thank God for His goodness.
✞
Find one thing a day you can thank someone for.
✞ Understand that genuine thankfulness comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit, not our own self-centered desires (Ephesians 5:18, 20).
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