God's good gifts

When I went to the cancer center on Monday to have blood drawn for lab tests I had a brief conversation with the nurse.  I'm getting to know all the "chemo nurses" in the center as they each take turns giving us our treatment when we cancer patients come to the center.  I told her that we had just received good news.  Our second, married son and his wife are going to have our fifth grandchild (It is their fifth child as well.) in November.  Also, our fifth child and second oldest daughter became engaged to be married to a fine young man the previous Friday.  The nurse responded by cheerfully saying that here were some good things happening in the midst of the difficulty of cancer and its treatment.  Her comment got me thinking.  She is absolutely correct in that both of these events are good gifts from a good God in the midst of much trouble.  This is a small example from my life of the reality that we all live in.  We live in a world that is both filled with all manner of suffering and trouble and evil and we live in a world that is full of good gifts from a good God.

I've written quite a bit on this blog about God's purposes in sending the trouble.  So I thought in view of these two good gifts which our family has received I would think some about God's purposes in sending us these good gifts. First of all it is important to emphasize that every good gift comes to us directly and personally from the hand of God.  This is one of the most often repeated facts in the Bible.  Here are just a couple of places where we see this: James 1:17, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."  The apostle Paul when preaching the gospel to idol worshipping Greek people said this about the only true and living God: Acts 17:24-25, "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything." 

I love the concise way that Paul sums up the sovereign and gracious glory of God.  He is not served by humans.  We have nothing he needs.  We cannot supply anything he lacks.  Rather he gives to each and every human life.  Just think about it: did you do anything to contribute to your birth?  You did nothing but rather God gave you life.  Every human being on the planet who has ever lived God decided personally and graciously to give life, to cause to be born into the world.  None of us did anything to deserve to be born.  Life is a good gift from the hand of God himself.  But not only does he give each of us life, he also gives each of us breath.  You ever think about breathing?  Do you do anything to keep yourself breathing?  Eight hours out of every day you can't think about breathing because you are sleeping and yet you keep breathing.  Why do you and I keep breathing?  Every breath that every human takes is given personally to us by God himself.  God is directly and immediately involved in the life of every human being because he is at this moment and every moment of every day deciding and then giving each and every breath to every human being.  Over six billion people on this planet and God directly gives each and every breath to each and every person each and every day of the year.

Finally, God gives us everything.  What does "everything" encompass?  You cannot name anything in your life that God did not give to you.  Your parents, your family, your ethnic heritage, your intelligence, your work ethic, your financial condition, your home, your clothes, your food, your friends, your country, the world you live in, your Xbox, and the list goes on.  In another sermon to idol worshipping Greeks Paul says, Acts 14:17, "He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy."  He not only gives us these good gifts but fills our hearts with joy.  He is repeating what King Solomon said in the book of Ecclesiastes that God not only gives us all things but he gives us the ability to enjoy the gifts.  He fills our hearts with joy.  All the pleasure we have ever experienced in this world has been given by a kind and sovereign and gracious God.

The important thing to recognize is that all this is a gift.  That means we don't deserve these things.  We didn't earn them.  They are not a reward for good behavior but simply an expression of the goodness and kindness of God.  Why does God give us good gifts?  I'll mention three reasons today and possibly more in the future.  First, God gives us these enormous creation gifts to demonstrate that he is a great and glorious being with whom we ought to be enormously impressed and to whom we ought to always give thanks (Romans 1:20-21, Acts 14:15-17, Acts 17:24-27).  Second, he shows us such kindness so that we will repent of our sins and trust in Christ alone and find all our happiness in him and his love for us rather than in the gifts of creation (Romans 2:3-4).  Third, he showers this kindness on all humans indiscriminately so that Christians will understand how to love their enemies and so imitate their Father in heaven (Matthew 5:43-48).