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- Oct 26, 2007
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Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. James 1:17 NKJV
On this fourth Thursday of November, the United States officially designates a day for gratitude. Biblically speaking, that’s great—and President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation formalizing a nation Thanksgiving Day urged “praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.”
Appreciation is implied in today’s scripture, where James notes “every good and perfect gift” that comes to us from “the Father of the heavenly lights.” Most likely, we’re thanking God today for family and friends, our health, and all the physical things we’ve been given. But the end of James 1:17 points out something else to be thankful for—namely, the unchanging nature of our God.
Ina world of constant and often negative change, we have a firm Rock to cling to. “I the Lord do not change,” Jehovah proclaimed through Malachi 3:6. Jesus Christ, the writer of Hebrews declared, is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (13:8). We don’t need to worry over the aging of our bodies, the twists and turns of the economy, the comings and goings of friends and family. When we are part of God’s family through faith in Jesus Christ, the changes of this world simply highlight the perfection of the next.
Prayer: Lord, may Your constant, unchanging presence give me confidence today and every day.
On this fourth Thursday of November, the United States officially designates a day for gratitude. Biblically speaking, that’s great—and President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation formalizing a nation Thanksgiving Day urged “praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.”
Appreciation is implied in today’s scripture, where James notes “every good and perfect gift” that comes to us from “the Father of the heavenly lights.” Most likely, we’re thanking God today for family and friends, our health, and all the physical things we’ve been given. But the end of James 1:17 points out something else to be thankful for—namely, the unchanging nature of our God.
Ina world of constant and often negative change, we have a firm Rock to cling to. “I the Lord do not change,” Jehovah proclaimed through Malachi 3:6. Jesus Christ, the writer of Hebrews declared, is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (13:8). We don’t need to worry over the aging of our bodies, the twists and turns of the economy, the comings and goings of friends and family. When we are part of God’s family through faith in Jesus Christ, the changes of this world simply highlight the perfection of the next.
Prayer: Lord, may Your constant, unchanging presence give me confidence today and every day.
