About a good and perfect gift…

Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. † Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. † He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. † Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. † Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, † now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. † As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. † For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." † Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone," † and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message--which is also what they were destined for. † But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. † Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Verse References In The Order Presented Above -- James 1:16 ; James 1:17 ; James 1:18 ; 1 Peter 2:1 ; 1 Peter 2:2 ; 1 Peter 2:3 ; 1 Peter 2:4 ; 1 Peter 2:5 ; 1 Peter 2:6 ; 1 Peter 2:7 ; 1 Peter 2:8 ; 1 Peter 2:9 ; 1 Peter 2:10