1. James 1:17 (ESV)
  2. Application

In Christ we see the light of all gifts

James 1:17 (ESV)

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 Saviour is to you and me the grid through which all of God's good gifts come to us. He has enlightened us. He is the greatest light and in him we see the light of God in all things. That is in part why Paul says in Romans 8 that God, having given us Christ, is not going to withhold anything else from us: He did not spare his own Son but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him give us all things (Romans 8:32). He has given us the light at such expense to himself—the very humiliation and suffering and death of the Saviour. Could a father, who has given you that gift, ever give you anything but that which is good and perfect, regardless of how you are tempted to define it? It is impossible, isn't it, when he has given you the greatest gift, the most costly gift that he would ever do as a service to you, that he would ever harm you, he would ever bring evil into your life? You see, it does not compute, and that is why James says that he is the Father of lights.1

Joseph A. Pipa