James 1:19-27English Standard Version (ESV)
19 Know this, my beloved
brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man
does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all
filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word,
which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the
word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a
hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his
natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself
and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks
into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who
forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
26 If anyone thinks he is
religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's
religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure
and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in
their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Each
morning I get up and read God’s Word. In
those Words I can identify myself, a sinner saved by the Grace of God. I read His Word to help me keep my faith
strong. I read His Word to remind me of
how I should conduct my life. I read His
Word to get answers to my questions. Every
reason that I read His Word is fulfilled when I read it. There have been numerous times that I have
cried out to the Lord in the night and the next morning when I read His Word, I
find answers to those cries.
His
Word is the most important thing that we could ever read. Yet, how many of us dust it off on Sunday
morning, open it during church, then close it when church is over, not to open
it again until the next Sunday. It
happens all too often. We use the church
service to remind us of how we should live and then go out in the world and
live life the way we want to because we have forgotten what the Word said on
Sunday. This is such a poor witness of a
Christian life. We forget what we are
supposed to do because we don’t submerge ourselves in the Word of God. It is what we submerge ourselves in that will
be reflected in our lives.
Christians
are probably the most put down group around. Why do you think that is? In John 15:18n Jesus is speaking and He says,
18 “If the world
hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+15:18&version=ESV) Are we hated because of
Christ or are hated by the way we act! Are
we patient and kind or are we quick to anger?
Are we acting like Jesus or are we acting like the world? Do we live with a chip on our shoulder or do
we live a life that reveals Christ. Do
we drive people crazy with kindness or do we drive them crazy with
complaining? We need to ask ourselves
daily why we are disliked or hated. I think we will most commonly find that we
are hated or disliked not because of our kindness but because of our negative
actions. I have never heard someone
complain about a Christian saying they were just way to nice but I have heard
on numerous occasions about Christians who are rude, insensitive, and
complainers. Christians we need to wake
up and be who God intended us to be. If
we truly love God His light will be revealed through us. If Jesus has rebelled He would have just been
one more radical person who deserved punishment. Christ did not suffer and die because of the
wrong that He did but rather because of the righteous things He did. He conquered death because of His
righteousness.
I
just went to a funeral of a dear friend.
At the funeral there were numerous testimonies of the way that He lived
His life. He was a man that lived out his faith. He didn’t grumble and complain, he didn’t
slander others, he put everyone before himself, and he helped the poor in their
times of need. This I what James says is
a religious person. This is a man that
will sit at the feet of Christ. He lived
out His faith and because of that He will have eternal life.
If
we as Christian would care more about others than we do about ourselves, I
believe we would not be put down so much.
I believe I would hear positive things about a Christian, more would
want to know how we are able to do it, more would come to Christ who is our
strength. As long as we continue to live
in the world and be a part of this world, taking on the bad habits of the
world, we will not have a positive impact on the world. If, however, we live our lives in a way that
honors God, by revealing who He is through us, we could have a hugely positive
impact on this world. We need to not
just sing the songs and quote the verses but we need to live those words out in
our own lives.
Our
friend is in his resting place, in the arms of Jesus. We continue to live and we too must make an
impact, going beyond what is humanly possible.
All the fancy words that we might speak are not of any use if we don’t
do as James tells us, live out our faith through doing for others and doing
what we read in His Word as to how we should be conducting our lives.
As
you seek Him in His Word remember that if we put the Word down and then go and
do as we please, we will find that we are ineffective and even a detriment to
spreading the Good News of our Glorious Lord.
He is there for us, what are we doing for Him?
Seeking
Him with all my heart,
Sheila
No comments:
Post a Comment