Thoughts From James - Day 8

You adulterous people,^[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us^]? ⁶ But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud
    but shows favor to the humble.”^]

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister^[d] or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

¹³ Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

 James is trying to bring back those who have strayed from the truth and start living an erroneous lifestyle even though that person considers themselves to be  part of "the saved." He says that some self tests are
   1. How do you respond to trials in your life?
   2. How do you respond to temptation?
   3. How do you view God's word?
   4. Are you obeying God's word?
   5. How do you treat the poor?
   6. How have the things that come off your tongue, changed?
   7. Is your behavior determined by asking WWJD not self centered?

   This last question is how I would summarize the last passage we looked at in James. We discussed worldly wisdom which has "ME" at the center, versus Godly wisdom which has God at the center - I live to please God. This latest passage now expands on this thought - what does it look like to have God controlling your life rather than self? Previously we saw that it was shown by a good life with deeds done in humility. It is a peace loving lifestyle, submissive, full of mercy, good fruit, impartial, sincere, and it leaves wherever it goes, a better place.

     This passage tells us that it isn't double-minded; it isn't a life that one moment is in the world and  the next moment is "in the church".It is consistant. It is "all in". People know where you stand. It isn't a hypocritical life that desires to be in the world and gets as close to the world as it can. And the truth is that this hypocritical life is an affront to God. My wife loves "The Bachelor" and I personally don't like it. The reason is that these contestants go out on these exotic dates and make out with someone and pledge their affection, in some cases, and the next night they are doing the same thing with someone else. To me, this is disgusting and in the spiritual realm, God considers friendship with the world in the same way. Quit being double-minded. You are either in love with Him or in love with the World - you can't have both. Nor should you want both. The fact that we want both should cause us to weep, mourn , and  wail at our depravity. James is saying, if you are double-minded, God still has grace for you. Come humbly to him in sorrow of heart and He will forgive you and save you.

     Then in verse 11, James gets back to the tongue again, but rather than just saying we should control our tongue, James gets deeper into why we should control our tongue and it has to do with this subject of Godly wisdom. If our tongue isn't controlled by God, then we are Gods of our own lives. We have usurped the authority of God if we are slandering or sitting in judgement of people. Also, we are choosing to be God if we pick and choose which of His laws we are going to obey. Not only does the tongue slander and judge people but it reveals our heart that thinks we are kings or maters of our own lives. We say, tomorrow I'm going to do this or that, go here or there, make money and be successful, all the while God is saying, "You aren't God, you don't even know if there will be tomorrow."

     James ends by saying, "If you know these things, do them. Stop sitting in judgement of the law and picking and choosing what you want to follow - follow it all. If not, you are choosing to sin and that is not indicative of a true believer.