Category: James

“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!  Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

James is one of my favorite books of the Bible, and when I was a teenager I decided to memorize the entire first chapter. It was truly a supernatural experience, as I memorized the whole thing in about an hour and it has been burned into my mind ever since. I have never had another passage that has stuck with me so deeply.

James’ audience is Jewish believers, living in all parts of the known world. These early believers had to expect trouble, since they were often hunted down for their faith. The whole spiritual journey was centered around clinging to your faith no matter who came to arrest you for it. Persecution was considered an honor, and it is in this vein that James expresses an opportunity for great joy when trials come. Think of what we saw of Peter and Paul in our study of Acts — they both were the most influential when they were facing opposition. The testing of faith produces a supernatural endurance, and you don’t need anything else when you have this because you’ve basically learned to survive it all.

You don’t have to quit. You can grow in the area of endurance. Perhaps you are facing a trial or difficulty right now, and you wonder if you will make it through. You might not feel strong right now. But you can get stronger. Every single day that you wake up and decide you are going to look straight into the wind and climb up that hill, you get a little stronger. Keep doing that and over time you will have developed those spiritual muscles and you will be able to face all the challenges that come your way. This strength is not from yourself, but from the expansion of the Holy Spirit in your heart as you lean into him instead of giving up.

“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 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. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.”

This passage is so packed with good stuff I hate to squeeze it into just one day, but the ideas flow together and build on one another so we must treat it as one thought. Spend some time with this one, don’t rush through today. Verse 5 starts, “If you need wisdom…” Heads up: we all need wisdom. There’s really no “if” about it. So pay attention because you are about to find out exactly how to get one of the things you need the most. Are you ready for the big secret? Ask. Yup, that’s it. Just ask.

Turns out God is super happy to give us wisdom any time and even if we are in a dumb situation we totally got ourselves into he won’t say, “I told you so.” He won’t blame you or shame you, he’ll just help you figure out what to do. Wow, that sounds really amazing. Here’s the “but”… don’t ask God for wisdom and then hunt down like 15 other opinions too. Godly counsel is one thing, but the morning talk show or the psychic down the street are not on the list. We cannot waver on that. Loyalty to God means your faith is only in him. He’s not on the list — he is the list.

I don’t have to waste time worrying about what I should do. I don’t need to search high and low to find wisdom. I don’t have to bounce around from one philosophical idea to another on some quest for the answer. I’ve already solved that one for myself: God has my back every single time. So what do you need wisdom for today? What situation are you about to blow up if you do not act wisely? Maybe trying asking God right now to tell you what to do. And then listen. He answers back.

“Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them. And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field. 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.”

You really can’t get much more of a non-American culture statement than these verses right here. As our world shouts, “Get rich quick!” the Bible tells us that believers who are poor are actually the ones on top. “Buy more stuff!” in contrast with “stuff will rot and do you no good.” But I have to be honest, the kicker for me in these verses is the word “achievements.” I could take it much more easily if the verse said, “The rich will fade away with all of their awesome stuff…” But it doesn’t say that. It says “achievements.”

Which makes me ask myself, “What is it that I am working towards?” I like to accomplish things. I like to set goals and meet them. I like to press ahead in life and achieve more each year than I did the year before. So if I pause to look in the mirror for a second, I have to examine my motivations. Sure, I could say that I’m doing all this for God, but am I? Or is there part of me that wants to achieve a lot of things for the purpose of being a driven, high-achieving person? And if I do that, what am I missing? Am I placing my value of myself on what I do rather than letting God just love me and use me with no pressure attached?

If today’s post is for no one but me, I’ll take it. You don’t have to put pressure on yourself. Say it with me now: “I don’t have to put pressure on myself.” God is not waiting for you be more productive or achieve things that will give you accolades. He kind of likes to sit and just be with you. He likes to refine you in a slow and nurturing way. Your achievements won’t get you there. In fact, they might just hold you back. Is there something you need to give up today? Take it to God and ask him where he stands on it. Examine your motivations in any area in which you feel like you have to perform. Let’s redefine our audience and put God in the front row seat.

“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.“

Finish this sentence: “God blesses those who…” The first thing I think of is the non-biblical “God helps those who help themselves.” What a contrast to what this verse is actually saying. God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. We as Americans are trained to reduce suffering at all costs. We spend billions of dollars to eliminate anything unpleasant or uncomfortable in our lives. And yet, God blesses those who patiently endure.

The rest of the verse references a “crown of life” that God has apparently promised to us. But if you search the Bible for this phrase, you will only find it mentioned again in Revelation 2:10. So when did God promise this crown of life? And what exactly is it? This promise is perhaps best known in John 3:16, in which Jesus offers eternal life to all who believe in him. The Bible is full of references to God crowning his people, so regardless of the exact phrasing, we know that God has some pretty amazing rewards for those who love and follow him.

At no point does the Bible promise that God will remove suffering. But he will use it. He will reward it both on earth and eternally in Heaven. No matter how hard life is for you right now, God is fully aware of what you are going through. And he may be allowing your suffering because it puts you at a spiritual advantage. (Of course this does not include all kinds of suffering that we voluntarily sign up for by doing stupid things.) When you are being tested and tempted and you patiently endure without giving in, there is almost no spiritual victory that is greater. God’s going to turn that into something great in your life, just wait and see.

“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. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.”

Have you ever looked for a loophole to get out of doing things God’s way? James goes straight for the gut here as he builds on exactly what patient endurance needs to look like. (Spoiler alert: it’s going to be hard.) And when it gets hard, our brains want to go straight to the God-blame answers… “I was going to patiently endure but God brought this thing into my life and I just couldn’t pass that hard of a test…”

Nope. Wrong. Sorry. God’s not tempting you. And I have even worse news for you: it’s you. Your own desires drag you away from what God wants. When we feed those desires, they grow and develop into a full blown sin. That sin grows even bigger and before you know it, your dreams have fallen apart right before your eyes and everything is destroyed. Even worse, it’s Satan’s favorite plot line.

These verses may paint a bleak picture, but if you remember that the Spirit of the living God dwells inside you then suddenly you can see the hope. James is telling us that we are going to face temptation. That is why we have to endure (you can’t endure something easy). These temptations don’t come from God, they come from our own hearts. If you go all the way back to the very first devotionals here on Freedom For Today, you’ll find your answer in Galatians 5. The Spirit cultivates a garden in us and grows things like love, joy, peace and patience. He aligns our desires with his. And if God never tempts us, then any desire aligned with his desires will be 100% good for us. We don’t have to get beat up and dragged away by our own mess. Through Christ today you can have a victory in your life. So go out there and win it!