Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
- James 1:16-17

After an in-depth discussion of temptation, desire, sin and death, James returns to his original point: God is good, generous and can be trusted.

For James and for us the most important question we can answer is the “Who is God?” Question. When we’re experiencing trials or threatened by temptation, how we answer the “Who is God?” Question makes a tremendous difference.

As Henry Cloud and John Townsend wrote: “God is the source.” He is the source of every good and perfect gift. He is the source of our stability. He is the source of each and every one of our healthy insights. Though all of these things may come to us via a long and convoluted path, God is the source.

As we’ll see throughout our time studying James, James is deeply theological in his life-coaching. He doesn’t just give advice. He doesn’t just give guidance. Everything he says comes as a result of his deeply-held convictions about who God is and what God cares about.

James has no hesitation calling his readers to pursue justice and compassion or to pursue holiness and purity. He challenges us to put our faith into action and he isn’t worried that having an active and engaged faith will harm us spiritually. He presses and pokes and prods. And at every turn we find him standing on his clear convictions about who God is.

What convictions do you carry about God? How would you answer the “Who is God?” Question? How does that answer impact your behavior?