You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'James' tag.
Following God’s voice sometimes can be a scary thing if you are not sure it is truly God speaking to you! Especially when you think God is telling you to make a life-changing decision. I often find myself second-guessing whether or not I feel God really talking to me, or just my desire for something to happen. I try to be sensitive to the nudges of the Holy Spirit, but I’m I sensitive enough? I hate to be that guy that says I have heard from God, latter realizing that it was just a bad taco from Taco Bell.
I don’t know what it is about me, but I love to play games with God. Like I will say God if you are really speaking to me, make this happen as a sign that it is really you speaking. Sometimes He complies and yet I still wonder if it is really God. There are other times I say to myself if this is really God speaking then this and this have to line up for me so that I know that it is of God.
Why do I second-guess God? I wish I were more like the men and women of the Bible. But wait a minute I am like them; all throughout the scripture people are second-guessing God. People like Moses and the disciples to name a few. But why, why do we second-guess God? Is it that we think we know more than He does, that we are better suited to handle our life than He?
No. I second-guess God because I am scared of the unknown. Scared of what God might do or might not do. Scared of failure because I did not really hear from God like I thought I did. So I need wisdom, wisdom to be able to discern when God is really talking to me and not just me wanting something to happen in my life. So, this week I pray for the wisdom I need to truly hear God’s voice in my life.
I take comfort in James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him”. I say Lord give me wisdom, please give me wisdom, I sure do need it right now!
As if James hadn’t beat us up enough in the previous chapters with how we should act as a Christian, he really lets us have it in chapter 4. In the beginning of the chapter he talks about pride, followed by worldliness, then judging a brother, followed up with boasting. Man, can James sock it to us or what? But what I really find interesting is verses 7 & 8. 7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. In verse 7, James is telling us to forsake rebellion. Submit yourself to your Lord. Forsake the Devil & refuse all his temptations. Then in verse 8 James tells us to quickly confess our sins. Nothing more effectively humbles a person than to admit that they are a sinner.
These two verses show that faith is humbling and that humility is the total opposite of being proud. Selfishness and self-centered goals show us the present evil age. When we are self-centered we are being full of worldliness. So to be self-centered is to be hostile with God.
O that wicked and untamable tongue, how I wish it didn’t ramble on so and get me into so much trouble at times! If you are like me, you have probably said something that as soon as you said it, you wish you could grab it in mid air and take it back, before it touches the ears of a friend or loved one.
Is it not odd that at one moment we can be singing sweet praises to our Lord, then within minutes spew vile words of hatred to someone? And all of this before we even leave the church parking lot on Sundays. Our tongue, to be so small, sure can do a lot of slicing and dicing can’t it?
In James chapter 3, the writer goes into great detail on how our tongue can get us into trouble and warns us to keep a close watch on what it says. As believers we must learn to bridle our tongues — to control what it speaks. Verse 2 speaks of this very thing to bridle our tongue. Monitoring every word we speak, this may seem burdensome at first, even unnatural – but it will serve to our benefit and to God’s.
Then in verses 9-12, James tells us to speak well of others. Criticism, slander, backbiting, & gossip are “bitter waters,” which are subject to, believe it or not, demonic, worldly wisdom. I don’t know about you, but this makes me want to make sure I guard my tongue! Verses 9-12 address serious issues!
Like my grandmother would always tell me it is better to keep quite and listen rather than speak foolish talk.
James chapter 2 is a very insightful chapter on how a Christian should act and how not to act. In verses 1-13, James tells us not to exalt some higher than others, namely the rich and the poor. This is true in every area of our life, but we need to especially make sure that everyone is looked upon as equals in the church. It’s easy though isn’t it to make more of a fuss when a important person in the community walks through the door, compared to the average Joe that walks in. Our culture has taught us to give special treatment to those that our society deems important. We do this I believe because we think that these “special” people can do something for us, or make us look good being in our presence. But God doesn’t care about status, who’s a big shoot and who’s not. And to act like one is more important than and another in church is, just plain stupid. By shunning one we could be playing with someone’s salvation and I don’t want to be that person on the day of judgment.
Then in verses 14-26 the remaining verses, James dives into some sticky theology for many, faith and works. Right out of the gate James says, “faith without works is dead”. This can be scary ground for some people. James is telling us that as a Christian our faith needs to be working for God, put into action, doing the Lords work. Many people see these passages and believe that James is almost at odds with Paul, because of what Paul said in Eph. 2:8-9; “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- 9not by works, so that no one can boast.”
However read James 2:14 & 24 again and you’ll see what James is trying to get across to us. “14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.” James is plainly telling us that the kind of faith that saves will be obvious by the good works we produces for the kingdom of God. Paul, himself who would never suggest that we are saved by our works, did say that we are saved for good works. Check out Ephesians 2:8-10 to see for yourself. So if faith is salvation’s foundation, works are its gauge.
In order to understand the book of James, we have to understand the
author and his purpose for writing the book. First off, it is written
by James, brother of Jesus, and the purpose for his writing is to
encourage his readers that they must be both practical and ethical – in
their Christian walk. He was tired of how many Christians were
performing their Christian duties out of mindless obligations vs. a love
for Christ. James wanted his readers to examine their faith to see if
it was genuine or not. He saw the Gospel as being practical — that we
should take it at face value and not dissect it theologically. James
wanted his readers to be pure and undefiled in their religion. The two
main themes coming out of the Gospels: to seek out personal growth in
Christ and be sensitive to social relationships. James saw the majority
of Christians as a group of people that try to talk their way into
heaven versus acting as Christians on their way to heaven – being “doers
of the Word”.
With that background in mind, let’s dive into chapter one. I want to
spend the majority of my ramblings of chapter one on verses 13-15. In
verse 13 we see James telling us that we cannot blame God for the
temptation that we encounter. He tells us that God is not tempted by
evil, so why in the world would He in return try to tempt us if it is
not in His nature. Then, in verse 14, James says it is by our own
heart’s desires that we respond to the outward enticements of this world
and are tempted. It is very interesting to note that nowhere in these
verses does he mention or allude to Satan as the one who tempts us. I
believe it is not James’ intention to explain the origin of sin, but
rather get the point across that it is not God who is enticing us to do
evil. James’ approach is showing us that temptation is spawned from our
own internal evil desires. We all know that Satan is the external
source of temptation, but we cannot blame him for the stronghold of
sinful deeds, which lie deep within each individual. Jesus states in
Mark 7:1-23 that defilement comes from within. This is heavy stuff I
know, but stuff we all need to know.
In closing we see James’ social part of Christianity in verse 22, where
he says; “…be doers of the word, and not hearers only…” His point -
that salvation leads to service. We fool ourselves if we believe that
church attendance is simply to hear the Word and do nothing with it.
Rather, we need to convert what we’ve heard into a real ministry of
action.
