Good and Perfect Gifts
When he was a young adult, my brother’s gift-wrapping skills were notorious. More often than not Nate would show up to a birthday celebration holding his gift, ready to bestow in a plastic shopping bag, (sometimes a trash bag if he was really in a pinch). He refused to make any additional efforts beyond buying the gift and bringing it to the party. Check. Done. Sufficiency was his middle name. We rolled our eyes and teased him for his minimalism. To be fair, he was on a much tighter budget back then and things like gift wrap never made his bottom line.
Imagine if I had rejected those gifts from my brother based on their poor packaging. I could have rebuked Nate for his poor party form and called him a cheapskate. I could have written him off as flippant or inconsiderate. You couldn’t even wrap the gift? Do I mean that little to you? I never did that, and I’m so glad because even though the wrapping left much to be desired, I was never disappointed with what I found inside.
My brother, while still not the best gift wrapper, is an excellent gift giver. He is thoughtful, inventive, and generous in the presents he chooses for our family. He still doesn’t pay much attention to detail when it comes to the packaging, and he’ll be the first to admit he has a pile of purchased gifts in his garage that still haven’t made it to their intended recipient (some well over two years old), but Nathan is a giver of good gifts.
James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” You may be thinking not all gifts are that great. Some gifts downright stink. You may doubt that everything given to us by God is “good and perfect.” I can understand that. Like most of you, God’s dealt me some pretty rough hands. I’ve often struggled to see the good in His plan for my life or in the lives of those I love. Things like job loss, cancer, and tragic accidents don’t feel like “gifts” at all. God willingly gives them to us, but we don’t willingly receive them. But here’s what I’ve come to trust: Though not every gift comes exquisitely wrapped, they all have a purpose.
The most powerful pieces of my testimony came from gifts I didn’t think were gifts at all: six failed adoption attempts, depression, anxiety, loss of close friends and family members, significant financial indiscretion, marital tension, failing out of college, leaving my community of seven years, my husband’s job loss, estrangement from family, etc. At the time, none of these hardships felt anywhere close to good or perfect. Yet God has used every single one for His good and perfect purpose. His faithfulness, glory, and provision are mightily displayed in every gift I initially rejected because I didn’t like the way it looked.
Remember the wrong turn you took that led you through a quaint, sleepy town you never knew existed? Think of the double rainbow you caught sight of after heavy winds and rain took out your power (and your fence). How about that hole-in-the-wall taco shop you stumbled upon after your favorite restaurant lost your reservations? Often the best gifts are disguised as disappointments, like the perfectly plump stuffed bear my brother gave me in a crumpled old grocery bag when I was young. I slept with that bear every night for the next eight years. It’s those gifts that remind us that wrapping isn’t everything. God’s gifts to us don’t always look good and perfect, but His purpose for them always is.
There are others in my family who are quite good at wrapping, but lack intuition when it comes to choosing the right present. In our newlywed days, my husband and I both fell into this category. Our hearts were in the right place, but truth be told we just didn’t know each other as innately as we do now (and it was before the days of Amazon wish lists). Lord bless him, but on our first Christmas together Zach gifted me with a 12-pack of Diet Coke and a blouse so hideous I wouldn’t be caught dead in it. Not to be outdone, I gifted him an NFL edition chess set and the first season of Animal Planet’s Meerkat Manor on DVD. Ask me if Zach played chess. Now ask me if he’d ever seen more than ten minutes of one episode of Meerkat Manor, or if he even liked meerkats. Everything about that first Christmas was cringe-worthy. We weren’t good gift-givers that year, but we gave with love and pure intentions. We don’t always love the gifts we receive, but we don’t love the gift giver any less.
I remember feeling resentful toward God when He didn’t give me the gifts I had been praying for with pure and righteous faith. I questioned if He had my best interest at heart. I failed to understand why He would hand me such pain and grief and call it a “gift.” I was angry and I was hurt, but I didn’t love God any less. I knew, somehow, some way, the “good and perfect” part of the gift would reveal itself in His time, not mine.
James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” This promise comes just five verses before we’re told every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of heavenly lights. It’s a bit of foreshadowing, I think because it’s telling us that before we receive the crown of life (talk about a good and perfect gift!), we will first need to persevere under trial. That glorious crown is wrapped in layers of trials. It’s tempting to reject it, but we’d miss out on something beautiful, and it’s promised only to those who love Him.
Before we judge a gift by its wrapping, may we first receive it with gratitude. May we unwrap the layers, however unsightly, with hopeful anticipation of the good and perfect that lies in store, given to us by the Father of heavenly lights.
“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” -2 Corinthians 9:15