James 1:17 declares, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.”
In 2020, multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, donated a gift of $10 billion to help fight climate change — the single most generous financial gift in recorded history (APnews.com). Other billionaires such as Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, Michael Bloomberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Tyler Perry have donated multiplied millions of dollars to the charities of their choice. Every dime of these gifts has truly blessed its recipient.
However, all the generous donors of all time and generations combined could not match the incalculable and unquantifiable blessings of the Almighty God.
God alone gives everything to everyone at all times. The gifts of human donors can only reach some people, in some places, at given times, but the ever-flowing blessings of God miss no one along the way. God’s gifts include, but by no means are limited to, life, health and medical science, great weather, religious and other freedoms, jobs and other sources of income, loving families and friends, opportunities to advance ourselves in just about any field, a church family for spiritual nurture, and a host of other blessings. But, greatest of all, the Hope of all men, the redeemer of sinners (including me), the One who guarantees everyone a more glorious and prosperous future, Jesus Christ gave the gift of His life and became our savior from sin.
I don’t know about you, dear reader, but while I am personally grateful for all the millionaire donors to human causes, I shall forever praise the Almighty God for all His unmerited blessings to me and mine. No one is as kind and generous to me as He. In fact, I could not exist without Him. It is in Him alone that “I live, breathe, and have my existence” (Acts 17:28).
So, my dear friend, the next time you think of how blessed you are, pause to say, “Thank You, heavenly Father.” As for me, I will respond to God’s generosity to me in three simple ways:
1. Praise Him for His matchless blessings to me right now.
2. Return my heart to Him.
3. Return an honest portion of His financial blessings to support His work here and worldwide every time He provides some money for me.
And, since my heart and my pocket are not nearly enough to show my appreciation for all of God’s baptisms, I will engage in His work to introduce as many people as possible to Him. He is so good that He is worth sharing.
Yours truly,
Conrad G. Duncan,
Stewardship Director, Florida Conference of SDA.