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.
– James 1:17
Tim Keller wrote “…anything more important to you than God. Anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God. Anything you seek to give you what only God can give. Anything that is so central and essential to your life, that should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living” is an idol.
Idolatry is easy when we are generically, vaguely thankful. It is impossible when we focus our attention on the Giver. Every good gift is from our Heavenly Father. Ecclesiastes 9 tells us, “Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.” He approves, because he is the Giver! When we take this to heart, instead of created things becoming objects of worship, they become reminders of God’s creativity and kindness and generosity. And they lift our eyes from object worship to thankful worship of the creator.
I originally wrote this post for my church, Immanuel Nashville, in our Daily Pulse email. If you want encouragement from God’s word delivered Monday thru Friday to your inbox, I encourage you to subscribe.
