Stay Thankful by Dale Jenkins

“every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes from the Father of lights in whom there is no shadow….” James 1:17

FROM THE VIDEO:
“Being thankful is such a simple thing, such a small thing, such an easy thing to do OR not – that you might be led to think that it’s not that important.”

“God thinks EVERY good gift is worth considering.”

From Romans 1: “The first step to atheism is ingratitude!”

FAITH is both a noun and a verb. As a noun it involves a set of beliefs and truths that one must embrace (Acts 6:7; Jude 3), but as a verb it calls for action (you can see the dynamic between faith as a noun and verb as you read James 2:1 and 14-22).

In our text (James 1:17) James writes that “every good gift…is from above.” That seems to indicate that not every gift is good. Have you ever received a BAD gift? What were the worst? Some gifts we think are good may not be. What would be an example of some of those gifts? How might a gift that seems like a good one turn out to be a bad one?

…But, EVERY good gift if from God. When we remember that fact it does some things to us:

• Remembering that your gifts are from God will help you not misuse your gifts.
• Remembering that your gifts are from God will help you return the gifts you have to God. We have so much in our country. You are not blessed to hoard, but to be a blessing. You have not been blessed to just consume but to help others (Ephesians 4:28 applies here).
• Remembering that your gifts are from God will help keep you (us) humble: If it is “all me” then I can boast about my talents and show them off to promote how good I am. But if I remember that I am the blest recipient of the gifts I have then I will not boast, or posture, or believe that I am better than others but I will treat those around me better and I will be happier and humbler. As long as I believe it is all MY talent that I developed then I become haughty – I don’t need God. As long as I think it is all about ME I won’t help others but will believe they should do what I’ve done on my own. I want life to make me a better person toward others. I want the fact that God has blessed my life to make me a better person. If your faith does not make you a better person do you really have faith?