Recently, my time in the Word has been spent in James 4. It's amazing what you can find and/or learn the second or seventieth time around! Here are some things that God is teaching me through James 4...
- 1-4: I only feel that I am lacking in my life for two reasons. One, I allow myself to feel jealous towards those who seem to have something I don't. Two, I am so consumed by my own desires that I miss out on what God has already given me or what He WANTS to give me! More on this one later...
- 4-10: Isn't it amazing how much we hate the thought of being humble?! Christianity has actually coined a term just to avoid using a word that we hate! Do you know what the opposite of pride is? It's not really humbleness. Go on, we can say the word... HUMILITY! The key to keeping ourselves as a friend of God is humility, not assuming ourselves to worth more than we are. There is a very interesting progression in this passage as well. Step one: humility, big God-little me. Step two: Resist the enemy of God. Step three: Draw close to God and He will draw close to you. Interesting... I can't draw close to God if I don't resist the direct enemy of God: Satan. I can't or won't resist the devil until I humble myself before God and realize how small and helpless I am without His strong embrace and presence in my life.
- 11-12: I find myself often looking at Scripture through the filter of ministry (it's my job!), but God opened up this portion of James 4 in a big way! We can't judge! Period. It is simply our job to obey. Another period. There is no "but", and I am not stuttering. We have no right to judge anyone. And what a slap in the face when James says "if you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God's law". Ouch! Be obedient and let God take care of the rest.
- 13-17: For me it's really more just verse 17. I was sharing with the students this past Sunday that we need to get away from saying that our sins are "mistakes". They're not mistakes. We choose to disobey God's commands. That's called sin. And then this verse. It's the same weight on God's scales to know what we ought to do and not do it. It's a sin.
