A Word in Season: The Father of Lights (James 1:17)

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We are too easily deceived about where real good comes from and what real good is.

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When James is speaking to us about sin, he talks about how it is the fruit of desire.

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When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.

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We're desiring what seems to be good, what appears good in the short term, which seems to satisfy some of our longings immediately.

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But then he gives us this contrast in verse 16 of the first chapter. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

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Don't think like that. Don't imagine that you will find any true or lasting good in the sinful desires that you have and their fulfillment.

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Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the

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Father of Lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Where do our truly good things come from?

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They are gifts from heaven. They are granted to us by a loving

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Father. They have a totally different character. They are spiritually crafted.

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They are heavenly in their content and design. They are the mercies of salvation and all that comes to us in and with Christ Jesus, who is the first and the greatest of gifts.

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Every real and lasting pleasure, every true and enduring treasure is from heaven.

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Notice it doesn't just fall from the sky, doesn't just land in your lap, doesn't appear out of nowhere.

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It is from above and comes down. It is a gift. It is the fruit of wisdom and power in order that we might know true blessing.

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And it is God himself from whom those gifts come. And here he is described most delightfully as the

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Father of Lights. Light is his very nature. It is reflective of his holiness, of his glory, of his goodness.

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And here he is without variation or shadow of turning.

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All other so -called goods ultimately fade and disappoint.

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But here is the giver of every good and perfect gift. There's no flaw, no fault, no ugliness, no misery, no sorrow in his gifts.

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They are good. They are perfect. And they come from him and they manifest what it means for him to be the

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Father of Lights. And then in accordance with that lack of variation, that absence of any shadow of turning, not one shade of any difference of being, not one moment in which he is anything other than all that he is, this infinite and eternal

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God, in love and in goodness, is dispensing blessings to his beloved children, whom he brought forth by the word of truth according to his own will, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

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God, having set his love upon us, lavishes his mercies on us.

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And so it's good for us, first of all, to consider the absolute goodness of God and the gifts that he gives, and also to set them in contrast to the emptiness and the vileness of some of the things that we're often told are good or feel might be good as we make our way through this world.

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There are many temptations that we face and we grieve over how often and how easily we fall into sin because of them.

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We find desire conceiving, we find it giving birth to sin, and we find it bringing forth death.

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And here are the things that we need to set in opposition to such desires.

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Here are God's good, holy, pure, perfect, bright gifts from heaven.

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Here are the mercies that you and I need in order to walk righteously in this world. Here are the favours that lift up our souls when we are cast down.

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Here are the things which truly satisfy our spirits when this world has nothing to offer us.

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Do you know then such gifts from the Father of Lights? He is the most perfect giver of the most perfect gifts.

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With him there is no variation and no shadow of turning. His heart is fixed.

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His being is entirely and eternally directed toward the blessing of his people.

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And we can therefore look to him, the Father of Lights, from whom comes every good and perfect gift, confident that he will bless us, he will satisfy our souls, and he will keep us to the end.