Column by Sumter Pastor Joey Durham: Every good, perfect gift is from God

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Thank you so much for spending a portion of your day with Gleanings from the Open Bible Baptist Church. I want us to consider a thought that the Lord has laid upon my heart titled "The God Who Is Still Giving." In James 1:17, we read these words from the inspired text: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (KJV)

Let me say that I am so thankful for the gift of eternal life that has been given to me by God the Father through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and we should also glorify God for the many other gifts He bestows upon us every day. Truly, God is good all the time!

Think about this, had Christ only given Himself as a sacrifice for our sins and then ascended back to the Father, leaving us on our own in this world to make it the best way we knew how, our life would be very difficult. But, He has given to all of the saved the gift of His precious Holy Spirit to strengthen us, guide us, comfort us, empower us to serve and fill us with unspeakable joy. The God of Heaven has given us His Word, which tells us about Himself and instructs us as to how to have a victorious and fulfilling relationship with God. For every problem that you or I may ever have, the answer is found in the inspired Word of the living God. What a gift!

Also, our Lord meets our every need each and every day by providing us with food, shelter, clothing and all of our other necessities. When God saved our soul, He also saved our life! In my ministry, I have seen people without Christ, and their life shows the ravages of the cruelty that Satan inflicts upon his victims. I have also seen people who truly seemed to have everything at their fingertips and could literally get anything they wanted. But the one thing they could not buy was the most important thing, a deep settled peace with God.

Not only do we have salvation through Jesus Christ and His untold blessings in our life, but at this very moment, our Savior is preparing a home in Heaven for us, and one day when He returns, He will give us a brand-new body like that of His own body. Truly every good and perfect gift is from the God of Heaven, which motivates me to remember the title to a blessed song, "Hallelujah, What a Savior!"

Dr. Joey Durham is pastor at Open Bible Baptist Church at 180 Old Manning Road in Sumter. You can contact Pastor Durham at durham.joey@yahoo.com or call the church office at (803) 481-9315.