Saturating James - Chapter 1, part 1

I love the fact that God created our brains to be constantly learning and absorbing new information. I am a member of the Sisterhood of WINGS (Women In God's Service) and we are currently involved in an inductive Bible Study of the book of James. The goal is to saturate every nuance the Holy Spirit is offering on each verse of each chapter. We learned this method of study from the well-known Bible teacher Kay Arthur. It is quite a ride. We have recently finished the first chapter of James and I'd like to share with you what I see.

James, the brother of Jesus, was writing a letter to the 12 tribes. It was written around 50 AD. James wanted to reassure the followers of Christ that God is with them in their trials no matter how difficult their life becomes. Encouraging self-examination, he challenges his reader as he encourages them. He also wanted to point out the difference between empty religion and undefiled religion before God.

Did you realize that you could profit from your trials? James says absolutely you can and that you should actually rejoice that you're having trouble. After all, if you never go through any hardships, how can your faith be tested. Faith that is tested produces patience. How many times have you prayed for patience? Well, your hard times is the way God strengthens patience in you. Be joyful about what God is doing in your heart. After your patience has been strengthened, you will be lacking nothing. In other words you will be perfect and complete. Here, the scriptures aren't defining perfection as someone without flaws. It referring to the spiritually mature Christian. A mature Christian is complete when he uses and exercised his faith in day to day life.

James goes on to say that if you feel you are lacking wisdom, simply ask God for it. God gives wisdom without rebuking us for asking. There is one condition. We have to ask in faith without doubting. I can testify to the fact that this is easier said than done. If you are doubting the truth of God and His Word, you are like a piece of driftwood on the wave of the ocean being tossed around by the wind. You never know where you will wind up - probably washed up and alone on the beach. Doubting is the enemy of faith. Don't expect God to provide wisdom if you are doubting Him.

The brother of Jesus also provides perspective on the rich and the poor. In this passage a poor man is the same as a lowly brother who is humble and meek. This lowly brother should glory in the fact that he is exalted. After all, humility is prized by Jesus (remember the Sermon on the Mount). On the other hand a rich man who feels glorified by his own accomplishments and importance, is like a flower that is beautiful for a moment but withers in the hot sun and perishes. His accomplishments are temporary and not eternal. I pray that God will keep my heart humble by any means necessary.

Pure and Faultless Religion

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

I've been thinking about and trying to become saturated with this verse over the last couple of weeks. I've been re-evaluating my ideas about what it really means to "do church". I'm thinking that Jesus never really intended for church to be a building with people meeting at designated times just waiting for the hurt and lost to come to them. It seems to me that Jesus was about going to where the hurt and lost people were. It can sometimes be easy to hide from the world in order to avoid being polluted. But how can you reach to the hurting and the lost if you're hiding? I want my religion to be pure and faultless (one translation says pure and undefiled). Therefore, I must go outside the walls of "the church". I must fortify myself with the scriptures, prayer and accountability with other Christians and reach out in a way in which God has specifically designed me to do. I came across a prayer that speaks to this:

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor. author unknown