God Speaks
This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad.
Greetings!
2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
9 Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them. 10 And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field. 11 The hot sun rises and the grass withers; the little flower droops and falls, and its beauty fades away. In the same way, the rich will fade away with all of their achievements.
12 God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. 13 And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. 14 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. 15 These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
16 So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. 18 He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.
19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. 20 Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. 21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.
22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
26 If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. 27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
Source: New Living Translation: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: The book of James is a great study contrasting the responses of two types of people to the testings, trials, and tribulations of life: people controlled by the culture, their own sinful nature, and Satanic forces versus people controlled by their “new self” in Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the word of God. The first contrast is found in chapter one, verse one where James, a half-brother of Jesus and a leader of the early church in Jerusalem, humbly introduces himself as a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. Next, he tells his readers to “count it all joy” (KJV) when they are confronted with various trials and temptations. This is in stark contrast to people’s natural reaction to moan, complain, or angrily blame someone else. God’s purpose for these difficult situations is to cause us to grow in trustful endurance so that our faith in God is fully developed, perfect and complete, needing nothing else. The wisdom we need to face life is available to us if we just ask God our Father. He won’t shame or chide us like the culture does. Instead of boasting in ourselves and our accomplishments, we should boast only in what Jesus has done for us, is doing in us, and will do through us to benefit other people and God’s kingdom. If we don’t give in to the temptations that come from the culture, satanic influences, or our own sinful natures (never from God), but stand firm in Christ, God, our loving Father, will give us good and perfect gifts and make us His prized possession. He will train us to be like Himself, “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.” (James 1:19 NLT) The culture says, “It’s okay to go to church or read the Bible, just don’t practice it in public or on the internet,” but true religion according to James (and the rest of scripture) is to actually take care of orphans, widows, and those truly in distress and to refuse to be corrupted by the world.
Use this link to view a video summary of the book of James.
Prayer: Thank You, LORD, our great teacher, who tests our faith in many ways. This testing is to prove to us that our faith is genuine, reliable, and complete. It can bring us immense joy when we fully understand this. If we don’t understand, we can come to You and ask for Your perspective. You promise to explain without belittling us; however, we must trust You completely and not waffle back and forth. You promise that whoever stays steady and keeps on loving You during the test will receive a special reward, the crown of life. Although You test us, You never tempt us to sin. We do that ourselves when we pay more attention to our own human desires than to Your Spirit within us. That wrong attention leads to sin which leads to death (in some form or fashion). You are the ultimate source of every generous act and perfect gift, even our turning to You to receive the new birth. In our relationships with other people, You want us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger doesn’t accomplish Your righteousness. You’ve told us that our lives can be cleaned up by paying attention to Your words and really doing what You say. This includes looking after orphans, widows, and people truly in distress and by staying pure in thought, word, and deed. All for Your glory, LORD. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on one of the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will ask the LORD to show me the joy He wants me to find in the midst of or as a result of my current difficult situation and thank Him for it.
- I will trust God to give me the wisdom I need to face the problems of life.
- I will practice being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry especially as I relate to the people I encounter every day.
- I will try to demonstrate true religion by doing as God directs me to help orphans, widows, and people truly in distress.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.