To Encourage You

James 1:16-17 “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 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.”

One of the first questions Jesus asked His would-be disciples was “What are you seeking?” (John 1:38).  I suppose that’s a question we should all ask ourselves, for it will determine an awful lot about what might happen as a result. 

In James 1, James talks to his hearers about the desires of our heart.  He warns us that lust is the first step to sin.  It’s translated “own desire” (James 1:14) in the ESV. The Greek word from which this is translated means “a desire which is forbidden.”  It could be a sexual desire, as a person casts a glance at a woman other than his wife. It could be a desire for wealth in the form of greed or envy towards another that has more than we do.  It could be a desire to have our way with something which results in bitterness or deep-seated anger if that desire is frustrated in some way.  Inevitably it is lusts such as these that will find their outlet in some act of sin (as if the thought itself was not enough). 

As James tells us in James 4:2, “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.”  So, as to the initial question, “What do you want?”  Do you want what you want, or do you want what God desires for you?  So often our own desires are tainted by sin.  We have a flawed value system, and thereby a flawed idea of what is best for us or what we really need.  But God would have us to have a new perspective, one that is better for us in every way. He tells us in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  Here we can be sure that he’s not talking about those “desires that are forbidden” by His Word, or desires that are sinful at their heart. No, He’s talking about His desires, i.e., He wants to fill our hearts with the same desires that He has for us. 

But we might say, “I don’t really care about God’s desires!  I know what I want! I know what it is that will make me happy. I know what I need and what is best for me!” It’s such a flawed perspective.  And in the verses above from James 1, we see the reason why. Here James tells us that every truly good gift and every truly perfect gift comes from God.  He uses the present tense in telling us this, i.e., it comes down from Him.  Continually, always, it never changes. There’s no variableness with Him. He’s not a good God today and something less than that tomorrow.  Jesus said to the rich young ruler, “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18). Do you hear that?  Only God is truly and perfectly good.  As a result, it is God alone who can give us things that are truly and perfectly good in every sense of the word. 

His Word is good.  Everything He has ever told us is good.  What He wants for us is good.  The desires He wants to place in our hearts are good.  So, if we truly want to desire that which is best for us, then we should seek to know God’s heart. As the psalmist says, we should delight ourselves in Him, for it is in that delight that our desires can be transformed to be like His. We should pray for such things. We should meditate on His Word to see what goodness truly is.  For you see, it is such a heart for true goodness that will keep us from the sinful desires that so often lead to heartache and emptiness in the end.  Goodness: it is always found in God. 

May God incline our hearts to seek Him for what is truly good  and thereby keep us from our own desires that are so often tainted by sin.