You are a living paraphrase. No pressure right? The question becomes, what are you going to do about it? God is writing a unique version of the Scriptures through your life. But how can you give an accurate portrayal if you don’t know the original script? Many Marvel comics fans have issues with some of the recent Marvel movies because they know the original comics! So for you and I to be this living paraphrase, we must know the original text.
I want us to be truly rooted in our ambassadorship. I want you to truly know that you are not a Jew, you are not a Gentile. You are not a Democrat, you are not a Republican. You are an ambassador of Christ, therefore you must act accordingly, helping people understand that your allegiance is not that of earthly trappings and of earthly things, but your allegiance is to our King and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Engaging with others in your faith, together, takes energy, effort, intentionality, and work, but it’s worth it.
Prayer disciplines us to create a space where the distractions of the world are pushed aside and focus is given to God with intentionality. This is how and when the eyes of our hearts are enlightened so that we may see, discern, higher, deeper, and wider in Christ.
When I read James’ exhortation at the end I read this as– him saying– be concerned with the salvation of others around you. Be in prayer and be watchful when your brothers and sisters turn away from the faith. My part is to communicate the faith in such a way that I continuously live out the hope, the freedom, and the restoration that Jesus offers with my words and actions.
James isn’t condemning us for not remembering– instead, he’s doing the opposite- he’s empowering us to remember and believe that our prayers matter. Our prayers make a difference. Our prayers have impact– so much so that they can cause rain to stop or rain to come. When was the last time you believed in the power and efficacy of your prayers THAT much?
Today we are going to dive into verses 12-15. There’s something so beautiful and powerful about a simple faith.
Just when you think James is done with making his point about patience, he highlights it again, ultimately saying, “No, really, I don’t think you understood it in the last verse so let me say it again.” ”Blessed are those who persevere.”
Today’s verses, 7-9, are rooted in patience. Some coin it as “the patience in suffering” passage. Two words I don’t like very much- patience and suffering. Mostly because I’m not a big fan of processes in life. Maybe you can relate. I like structure and things that have a process from point A to point Z. I just do not like going through the process that isn’t systematic–meaning, I actually do not like going through things where there’s uncertainty of what to expect on the other side. Shocker– I ...
James warns us about being too narrow-minded, too short-focused, that we lose sight of the coming return of Christ, and instead value our own self-confidence and self-reliance over God’s sovereignty. He warns us against arrogance in our relationships, our planning, and our finances.
James is reminding us that at the end of the day, or at the end of times on judgment day, the wealth and material possessions that we have gathered will amount to nothing. But what will remain are the treasures that have been stored in heaven, as Matthew 6:19-21 describes.
The good we ought to do is about helping those within enough proximity of us to assist, in a timely manner. If we see a neighbor in need and have the power to act, that is our faith being put into action. Caring for the vulnerable in society, such as a child without guardians, is a sign of true religion. Faith is forged through action.
As people that are just a mist, are we placing faith in our own self-confidence and personal willpower, or are we placing our faith in God’s plan and sovereignty? It requires humility to recognize that ultimately it is God’s plans that will come to fruition, and not our own.
As we read and study this portion of James, it may feel most natural to start with an outward perspective. You may hear a verse that reminds you of someone else or seems to tell you something about society at large. It’s easy to view these scriptures through the lens of how it relates to others. Let’s challenge ourselves to instead start with an inward perspective.
James is encouraging his reader or hearer to humble themselves in repentance. To turn back and find their way back to God – a God who forgives. In humility, wisdom from above finds a true resting place in the lives of those willing to choose the kingdom of God over their own empire.
Today’s deep dive can help us process through the things we do that we place at a higher importance than God and the Imago Dei. What overwhelms our minds during the day? Where do we spend our money? What algorithms show up in our social media feeds? So let’s think through that today, and reset to what God is asking of us. And we can do that because every day is a new day!
Today, let’s ask God how we can resolve the disputes and conflicts in our lives and begin to ask for the things that come from His true wisdom.
What counts is the godly life reflected in action resulting from genuine faith and wisdom. This kind of wisdom is not proud, self-serving, and contentious, but instead, pure, generous, peaceable, humble, and sincere. So today, let’s tap into the true wisdom that God has given us access to. Let’s be the people of peace.
James’ “wisdom from above” is not about how to “get ahead” in life or how to achieve worldly success. It’s about how we reflect the life of Christ, the one who identified himself as meek and lowly. Anything that generates jealousy or selfish ambition is a denial of the teaching of Jesus. James is saying that every ostensibly “good” thing that earthly wisdom produces is at best morally worthless.
It’s Brian and Kim Hill here to wrap up this week’s deep dive into James with a little practical application. A disclaimer before we begin, though: we do not have all this figured out, nor do we perfectly do what we know we should. We mess up—a lot. But, we continue to try and through that, we grow.
The tongue reveals its evil nature by manifesting a hypocritical double nature. The tongue can both praise God and curse people, who are made in God’s image. As James says: “this should not be.”
Words are powerful. In fact they may be the single most powerful medium in the world. They can be instruments of destruction or peace, chaos or calm. We all know this. The original audience of James’ letter knew it, too. And yet they needed to be reminded, just as we do today, of the power and responsibility that comes with speaking.
Faith in Christ will lead to love for, and service of, others, or it simply isn’t faith at all. James 2:14-26 is emphasizing the need for actions to prove a vital, viable, visible faith in God who didn’t just say He loves us, but entered into time and space and gave His Son so that we could know Him and be made righteous.
Today we’ll be focusing on James 2:14-17. I’ll be reading from The Passion Translation, which attempts to translate the essence of the Scripture into modern language.
We have already talked about how you can know your community, how you can understand the theology of your community, how to remember who you are, your proximity to orphans and widows, and avoiding partiality. Today we want to continue with that same topic and we want to talk about how you protect your community.
This week we have talked about knowing your community, understanding the theology of your community, and remembering who you are. Today we are going to look at avoiding partiality and having proximity.
This week we’ve been talking about the book of James. So far we have talked about knowing your community and understanding the theology of your community. For today let’s talk about our value and remembering who we are.
Today we will be diving deeper into the book of James. Yesterday we talked about knowing your community and today we want to talk about understanding the theology of your community.
Today, let’s talk about how do you know your community? James’ letter speaks to various people in different situations and he offers solutions. When we read this letter, do we take for granted that James had an understanding of this community and he had to be listening to what they were going through? This must have taken some time and required him to listen intently and to find out from this community what was going on.
You are his prized possession, my friend. You are here by the power of his true word! Your identity is in him. Don’t allow your pain to define you. Pain has never told you the truth about who you are, it just informed you about what life looks like when we don’t put our complete trust in him.
