Freedom For Today

“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.”

These verses are another “Heads up, Christian! I’m about to say something extra important!” moment. Understand this. Okay, I’m paying attention. Grabbing my notebook and pencil to start taking notes. What do I need to understand? Be quick to listen. Ok. Slow to speak. Hrrrmmm. Slow to get angry. (Flashes to multiple examples of anger from last week, breaks note-taking pencil…)

Anger is bad for you. Filth and evil are bad for you. God’s word has the power to save you. So why is it so hard to listen, keep our mouths shut, not get angry, and stay away from filth? Just a thought, but perhaps it is because our culture says the exact opposite to us every single day. Speak your mind, don’t let anyone walk on you, watch this TV show called “Filth and Evil.” The Christian life is the total opposite of American expectations. And in James’ world it must have been happening too.

The only way to accomplish this revolutionary, other worldly attitude in which you listen, hold back and maintain peace is to humbly accept the word God has placed in your heart. What is that word? There could be a lot of answers, including his laws and his promises. But to me, there is just one important word: love. God has said, “I love you. I have more for you. The world has nothing but fake, shiny things that disappoint as soon as you get your hands on them. Come with me and I’ll show you a better way.” Today will you join me in humbly receiving an undeserved love that transforms?

“So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.”

I have heard some people say that Christians (or perhaps religious people in general) have just been brainwashed to believe a certain set of ideas. When you really look at it, perhaps we have all just been conditioned to think a certain way so we view the world through that lens. Atheists would say that what you see is what you get — there is no God/god or spiritual explanation for our world.

The problem with this thinking is that one could easily claim that a non-believer has been brainwashed to think only in practical or earthly ways. They eliminate God because they have been conditioned to think this is a higher form of thought. So which is it?

These verses tell us not to be misled (or brainwashed). What follows gives us insight into what it would mean to be misled: if you think that God does not have good gifts for you (perfect ones, in fact) and if you think that God changes or has it out for you, you’ve been misled. Your ideas about God are wrong. It’s interesting to me that a lot of people have these exact beliefs about God.

If that sounds like a crazy idea to you, consider the possibility that you have been brainwashed into thinking of God as an angry old man or as a distant force out there somewhere. I challenge you to seek what is true. These verses claim that you are God’s prized possession. What if that were actually real? God hasn’t changed since before time, and he isn’t about to start now. He’s always been for you. Maybe today it’s time to start buying that idea and stop being misled once and for all.

“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!

“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.

“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.