Ramblings by James

We all have our morning rituals. Several years ago, mine included dealing with my bed hair. My golden locks stuck out every direction and I had a cow-lick that wouldn’t stop doing its thing. I would stand in front of the mirror and try to get my hair tamed. Looks like my hair won and walked out in protest.

James talks about a far more important mirror and adjustment each of us must make. James 1:22-25 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

We must be doers of the word. When we encounter the truth of God’s word, we must adjust our lives. We need to live as He instructs us to do. For us to do otherwise would be a silly as looking in the mirror at unruly hair and ignoring it completely. Notice also the promise in v. 25. When we are doers of the word, we will be blessed. Today, let us all be hearers and doers of the word of God.

Did you like tests in school? I remember my classmates and I begging Bro. Anderson to have a test which wasn’t an essay. We all wanted what he called a “multiple guess” test. He finally relented and boy, we got what we wanted, but we didn’t want what we got! That was the hardest test I have ever taken. All four answers were right, and we had to guess which was most right. That felt like more of a trial than a test.

Trials and tests of our commitment to God come all the time. James said it this way,

“12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” James 1:12-15

Notice the promise for enduring is a crown of life. Yet temptations come, not from God, but from our own desires. Our mind begins to entice us and pull us away from living the right way. Then, it conceives and leads to sin. We do something the Lord has forbidden. If we aren’t careful, we can become trapped and it brings forth death. Sin works to destroy us.

When temptations come, we must stand firm and resist them. A commitment to living by God’s word will go a long way to leading us in right paths. We don’t have to guess or feel our way through life. We have God’s revelation to guide us through life.

I remember the last time I tried to ride a horse. I had on my boots and hat. I easily got into the saddle and was ready to go. That wild bronco began to move. He moved about 3 steps and the saddle started sliding. It started sliding sideways. Thankfully, we were close to fence and I grabbed the top rail. Of course my boots remained in the stirrups and I was riding side saddle. Literally, the saddle had slid to the side and I was sticking out with my legs on the horse and my hands on the rail. I still don’t remember how I escaped such a “precarious” position. I am glad that horse was so old he really didn’t want to move anyway.

Big thins, like horses, can be controlled by very small things in the right hands. When properly bridled, a well trained horse and rider can work wonders. James compares our need to control our tongues to bridling a horse. Notice what he says, “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” ‭‭JAMES‬ ‭1:26-27‬ ‭NASB‬‬‬‬‬‬ ‬‬‬‬

James gives two indications of having pure and undefiled religion. First, we must control our speech. Our speech is to be gentle and seasoned with love. We speak truth in love as we call people to repentance when proclaiming the good news of Jesus. Pure religion is also marked by how we treat others. Widows and orphans were some of the neediest in Biblical times. The family of God rallied around them and saw that their needs were met and thus put their love into action. Finally, James reminds us that people with pure religion remain unstained from the world. We must live apart from the sins of the words. That doesn’t mean we have no contact with sinners. (Hint: we are all sinners.) It means we don’t participate in nor endorse their sins. Our message of repentance is a call to leave their sins and serve the Savior.

This morning, let us have a pure and undefiled religion, watch what we say, how we treat others, and remain pure.