“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? … Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes or daily food. If one of you says, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 3:14-17.
Okay, we have all been the giver of this and the recipient of this scenario. We are in public having ourselves a nice day when we bump into someone we know and ask them how they are. They proceed to break down naming the burdens for which they face for that day or even that painful season in their lives. We can feel it in our stomach…you know the feeling. We feel bombarded and even a little irritated by their ambush of emotions. Our physical body language changes and our mind races through the possibilities of a quick exit. We consider what acceptable dialogue will tie this conversation up with a quick little bow tied with fractional mercy. We might even tell them, ‘I hope things get better; I will pray for you,’ only to catch a good sale in the corner of our eye. How many times a day do we comment on someone’s facebook, ‘Praying for you’ only to keep reading the news feed and combing through the lives of others? WHAT GOOD IS IT?
When we are the recipient of this treatment we feel betrayed by our audience when they part with an empty ‘Go, hope you have a good day and things get better.’ Our burdens and emotions have just taken another hit on a day that had no more space for pain. We ask ourselves, WHAT GOOD WAS IT to open our suffering to our sister or brother in Christ?
Mercy and action do not have to cost anything! It is free from the One who already paid the price. Mercy has many ways to manifest itself if we allow ourselves to mentally and emotionally hear our sufferer through the ears of God. Sometimes our action may require our willingness to pray at that moment…with that person…in that public place. Some of the most precious and uplifting times have been when I have heard my name lifted to God from the mouth of someone else right at the time of discouragement.
We must take one step further than whatever our mind defaults to when dealing with the pain of others. Instead of our brother or sister shaking their heads as they walk away from us saying, ‘What good was that?’ let’s give them the opportunity to say as they depart ‘Now that was good!’
Faith without action is like a car without gas. It goes nowhere and stays stranded on the side of the road missing most of the journey. When Godly action is taken, mercy has conceived, God’s comfort is activated and faith expands…NOW THAT IS GOOD!
Friday, December 30, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Unimpressed
“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy or selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil…But the wisdom that comes down from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit…Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.” James 3:13-17.
James continues to exhort that we should live out our lives with a reign on our tongue and let our actions do the talking. I only have to rewind to this time last year to let this passage hit me right between the eyes. If we had a limited amount of words for one lifetime I would have met mine last year. Over the course of last year as I was caregiving for my father-in-law, I don’t think I practiced being wise and understanding much at all. I was constantly talking about what I had done yesterday, how I was doing it and what was going to be required of me tomorrow. My fruit consisted of holes and worms…
I love my commentary regarding James 3:13. It states, ‘The Greek word rendered ‘humility’ (NIV) or ‘gentleness’ (NCSB) … refers to “the quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of one’s self-importance.” James, Mercy Triumphs - p. 124. The two types of wisdom of which James speaks are heavenly wisdom and earthly wisdom. One wags the tongue and points while the other pursues the purity of God and acts. One speaks of self while the other acts for the sake of others. One confirms its foolishness while the other lives out its righteousness. I love how Proverbs doesn’t pull any punches… it states ‘A man of knowledge uses words with restraint…Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.’ Prov. 17:27-18.
My parents and grandparents were wonderful examples of those who sowed in peace and raised a harvest of righteousness from the overflow of heavenly wisdom. Their legacy left me with fertile spiritual soil, but I didn’t water it with the purified water of God. It was only through the humbling experience of God’s gentle discipline was I able to till the soil, allow Him to remove its impurities and give Him complete control of what He would accomplish in my life. We can live our lives with earthly wisdom harboring bitterness, grumbling and searching for self or can pursue purity and produce the fruit for which we were created to provide for others - the fruit of the Spirit.
James continues to exhort that we should live out our lives with a reign on our tongue and let our actions do the talking. I only have to rewind to this time last year to let this passage hit me right between the eyes. If we had a limited amount of words for one lifetime I would have met mine last year. Over the course of last year as I was caregiving for my father-in-law, I don’t think I practiced being wise and understanding much at all. I was constantly talking about what I had done yesterday, how I was doing it and what was going to be required of me tomorrow. My fruit consisted of holes and worms…
I love my commentary regarding James 3:13. It states, ‘The Greek word rendered ‘humility’ (NIV) or ‘gentleness’ (NCSB) … refers to “the quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of one’s self-importance.” James, Mercy Triumphs - p. 124. The two types of wisdom of which James speaks are heavenly wisdom and earthly wisdom. One wags the tongue and points while the other pursues the purity of God and acts. One speaks of self while the other acts for the sake of others. One confirms its foolishness while the other lives out its righteousness. I love how Proverbs doesn’t pull any punches… it states ‘A man of knowledge uses words with restraint…Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.’ Prov. 17:27-18.
My parents and grandparents were wonderful examples of those who sowed in peace and raised a harvest of righteousness from the overflow of heavenly wisdom. Their legacy left me with fertile spiritual soil, but I didn’t water it with the purified water of God. It was only through the humbling experience of God’s gentle discipline was I able to till the soil, allow Him to remove its impurities and give Him complete control of what He would accomplish in my life. We can live our lives with earthly wisdom harboring bitterness, grumbling and searching for self or can pursue purity and produce the fruit for which we were created to provide for others - the fruit of the Spirit.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Campgrounds
“For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter…So the people grumbled against Moses… and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet…He said, ‘If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes…for I am the LORD, who heals you.’ Then they came to Elim [large tree], where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.” Ex 15:22-27.
Everyone on this earth will travel into the desert of adversity becoming parched for the water of resolution. Life presents trial upon trial beckoning some form of response from us. Will our response be bitter or sweet? Will we grumble for what we lack or will we praise Him for what we have and expect more of His good? My commentary states that although they grumbled against Moses the Lord considered their grumbling directly against Him.
James 3:10 states ‘Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be’…but yet it is. God has also shown us two pieces of wood that will sweeten our life when we throw it into every area we experience. They just happen to cross near the top and represent the sweet Lamb who sacrificed all for our eternity. Once we camp at the base of the wooden tree that held our Savior we come in for the promise of His healing. If we stay near the living waters, not roaming far from the bank, we will never be diseased by our culture.
‘Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life…flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit…And the leaves of the tree are for the healing…’ Rev. 22:1-2.
Who says we can’t experience a little bit of heaven on earth through the Holy Spirit? ‘Having believed, you were marked in him with … the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.’ Eph. 1:13-14.
Everyone on this earth will travel into the desert of adversity becoming parched for the water of resolution. Life presents trial upon trial beckoning some form of response from us. Will our response be bitter or sweet? Will we grumble for what we lack or will we praise Him for what we have and expect more of His good? My commentary states that although they grumbled against Moses the Lord considered their grumbling directly against Him.
James 3:10 states ‘Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be’…but yet it is. God has also shown us two pieces of wood that will sweeten our life when we throw it into every area we experience. They just happen to cross near the top and represent the sweet Lamb who sacrificed all for our eternity. Once we camp at the base of the wooden tree that held our Savior we come in for the promise of His healing. If we stay near the living waters, not roaming far from the bank, we will never be diseased by our culture.
‘Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life…flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit…And the leaves of the tree are for the healing…’ Rev. 22:1-2.
Who says we can’t experience a little bit of heaven on earth through the Holy Spirit? ‘Having believed, you were marked in him with … the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.’ Eph. 1:13-14.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Wagging Tongues
“…but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?” James 3:8-9, 11.
I love my morning coffee and Bruce loves his morning tea. We cannot begin our day unless we have prepared, settled in and sipped on our energizing beverages. But what if we were to prepare our morning drinks with salt water? The outcome would not be quite so enjoyable. The taste would change and the experience would be less than desirable.
The same is with our tongues when preparing our speech. James wrote 12 verses exhorting and cautioning us to tame the tongue. Acts 2 uses the metaphor of the tongues of fire coming from heaven as the Holy Spirit was sent from God to rest on His chosen. James compares the tongue in its most evil form as deadly poison, ‘corrupting the whole person’ and ‘sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.’ James 3:6. It seems to me that the difference in our words is the motivation from where they originated…the compassionate and merciful heaven or the judgmental and condemning gates of hell.
We use the tongue more than any other part of our body. James also states, ‘Everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak…’ James 1:19. Proverbs 10:19a lends us its wisdom as it is written, ‘When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.’
The most effective way to use our tongues when speaking at all is to believe God in Exodus 4:12 when Moses didn’t know what to say. God comforted him with the truth of how man should prepare his speech… ‘I will teach you what to say.’ If we become a ‘quick to hear, slow to speak’ people and allow God to speak through us with His teachings our spring will run fresh and clear with His living waters.
May our tongues become restless to share the things of God with everyone we meet instead of becoming restless with evil words.
I love my morning coffee and Bruce loves his morning tea. We cannot begin our day unless we have prepared, settled in and sipped on our energizing beverages. But what if we were to prepare our morning drinks with salt water? The outcome would not be quite so enjoyable. The taste would change and the experience would be less than desirable.
The same is with our tongues when preparing our speech. James wrote 12 verses exhorting and cautioning us to tame the tongue. Acts 2 uses the metaphor of the tongues of fire coming from heaven as the Holy Spirit was sent from God to rest on His chosen. James compares the tongue in its most evil form as deadly poison, ‘corrupting the whole person’ and ‘sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.’ James 3:6. It seems to me that the difference in our words is the motivation from where they originated…the compassionate and merciful heaven or the judgmental and condemning gates of hell.
We use the tongue more than any other part of our body. James also states, ‘Everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak…’ James 1:19. Proverbs 10:19a lends us its wisdom as it is written, ‘When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.’
The most effective way to use our tongues when speaking at all is to believe God in Exodus 4:12 when Moses didn’t know what to say. God comforted him with the truth of how man should prepare his speech… ‘I will teach you what to say.’ If we become a ‘quick to hear, slow to speak’ people and allow God to speak through us with His teachings our spring will run fresh and clear with His living waters.
May our tongues become restless to share the things of God with everyone we meet instead of becoming restless with evil words.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Working Together
“Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous by what he did when he offered his son Isaac to the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies…” James 2:21-22.
We have all most likely witnessed and have been guilty of actions not living up to claims. The things we claim many times are not really what we believe as testified by our actions. James was very clear on one without the other. In this particular subject of his writings he named two bookends of faith – Abraham, the father of nations, and Rahab, Jericho’s resident prostitute. We all fall within these spiritual bookends as God included in Holy Writ both man and woman from one end of the spectrum to the other.
Even in the story of the Good Samaritan we are given two men of God whose faith is strong but avoid the actions of love that would have represented their strong faith. How many times do we claim the things of God only to ignore one of His children? We read some story that moves our heart but not our hands. We see something for which we should take a spiritual stand but we sit instead. Strong belief will also predicate actions for the good or the bad.
Faith is what we claim – action is what we do out of the overflow of our faith.
We have all most likely witnessed and have been guilty of actions not living up to claims. The things we claim many times are not really what we believe as testified by our actions. James was very clear on one without the other. In this particular subject of his writings he named two bookends of faith – Abraham, the father of nations, and Rahab, Jericho’s resident prostitute. We all fall within these spiritual bookends as God included in Holy Writ both man and woman from one end of the spectrum to the other.
Even in the story of the Good Samaritan we are given two men of God whose faith is strong but avoid the actions of love that would have represented their strong faith. How many times do we claim the things of God only to ignore one of His children? We read some story that moves our heart but not our hands. We see something for which we should take a spiritual stand but we sit instead. Strong belief will also predicate actions for the good or the bad.
Faith is what we claim – action is what we do out of the overflow of our faith.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
All Bets Off!
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And, the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40. “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right…For whoever is keeping the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” James 2:8-9.
When I think of the passages above I draw a parallel to my own life as a parent. You and I can have such an amazing relationship with each other, but the moment you do not show loving actions towards my children all bets are off! We cannot go any further until you reconcile with my child. The message in the Word is loud and clear from our Father: You don’t love me if you are not loving my children…end of story…no need to go on to the other commands, because they all hinge on these two commands. God is not a God of words only but a God who follows up His declaration of love with action. To say we love and withhold action is not the pattern of love for which God speaks.
When we are living a Christian life bent on righteousness we are on the right path. We try to be loving and compassionate people in a world that seems to show us little of the same in return. We attempt to live out the commands of God but so many times we live out the commands of our heart. We pick and choose which laws to follow in our lives and which laws we slam down the gavel in convicting others.
The One who spoke the command in Matthew written above is also the One who forbids murder, envy, adultery and a host of other laws. We seem to gloss over the fact that the command to love God first and our neighbor second sits in authority over all of the others. Christ came to fulfill the law of freedom and paid the price for each of us. When we humbly ask Him to whom we should make out our check, He expects us to pay our debt to Him by loving those who we deem as unlovable. That is our debt to pay in full – to think of the most unlovable person in our lives and love them as God commands. ‘Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law…Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.’ Romans 13:8, 10.
Our benefit from Christ’s death will continue throughout eternity but so does our debt to love others.
When I think of the passages above I draw a parallel to my own life as a parent. You and I can have such an amazing relationship with each other, but the moment you do not show loving actions towards my children all bets are off! We cannot go any further until you reconcile with my child. The message in the Word is loud and clear from our Father: You don’t love me if you are not loving my children…end of story…no need to go on to the other commands, because they all hinge on these two commands. God is not a God of words only but a God who follows up His declaration of love with action. To say we love and withhold action is not the pattern of love for which God speaks.
When we are living a Christian life bent on righteousness we are on the right path. We try to be loving and compassionate people in a world that seems to show us little of the same in return. We attempt to live out the commands of God but so many times we live out the commands of our heart. We pick and choose which laws to follow in our lives and which laws we slam down the gavel in convicting others.
The One who spoke the command in Matthew written above is also the One who forbids murder, envy, adultery and a host of other laws. We seem to gloss over the fact that the command to love God first and our neighbor second sits in authority over all of the others. Christ came to fulfill the law of freedom and paid the price for each of us. When we humbly ask Him to whom we should make out our check, He expects us to pay our debt to Him by loving those who we deem as unlovable. That is our debt to pay in full – to think of the most unlovable person in our lives and love them as God commands. ‘Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law…Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.’ Romans 13:8, 10.
Our benefit from Christ’s death will continue throughout eternity but so does our debt to love others.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Crystal Clear...
“Then the angel showed me the river of life, clear as crystal…” Rev. 22:1
A couple of nights ago I was visited by one of heaven’s residents, my dad. I know that it is not biblical that our loved ones become angels upon entry into heaven. However, I do consider that while my dad was on earth he was one of my earthly angels, as he and my mother raised and ministered to me in the principles of Christ.
In our visit my dad was telling me the importance of setting my sights on the spiritual things instead of the earthly things. He encouraged me in the message that whatever I experience on earth is worth the suffering when I receive the rewards of heaven. We were somewhere in between earth and heaven as we moved together and talked. I didn’t really notice anything around us in the realm for which we traveled but my dad noticed that the body of water below us was crystal clear. He was in awe of how deep the water was since it was transparent to him. God keeps revealing different revelations to me in connection with my dream.
This morning I was so enamored with God’s message I just had to share it with you. In remembering that the water was crystal clear to Daddy I started remembering different verses that spoke of transparency. In Ex. 24:10 it is written ‘Under his feet was something like a pavement of sapphire, clear as the sky itself.’ In Rev. 21:21 it is written, ‘The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.’ I began thinking about my dad seeing the same body of water as I but his spiritual perception was different than mine. Then the revelation came and what a blessing is was!
Every thing in this world was created by God and sits under His authority with the ability to be prisms. The world clouds and smudges our spiritual ability to reflect God and every facet of His character in our lives. The closer we move to the throne of God the cleaner our prisms become. Through the Holy Spirit our lives are polished and made transparent so that each facet is colored with the individual ‘Christ color.’ These colors do not distort or change the prism but enhance the transparency and its beauty.
To walk with God on these transparent streets we must become transparent ourselves. I get the feeling that heaven is full of crystal clear and transparent surroundings so that God’s glory will not be obstructed by anything. Every beam of light from Him will have a landing spot and will illuminate so brilliantly that there will be no need for light. ‘They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.’ Rev. 22:5.
A couple of nights ago I was visited by one of heaven’s residents, my dad. I know that it is not biblical that our loved ones become angels upon entry into heaven. However, I do consider that while my dad was on earth he was one of my earthly angels, as he and my mother raised and ministered to me in the principles of Christ.
In our visit my dad was telling me the importance of setting my sights on the spiritual things instead of the earthly things. He encouraged me in the message that whatever I experience on earth is worth the suffering when I receive the rewards of heaven. We were somewhere in between earth and heaven as we moved together and talked. I didn’t really notice anything around us in the realm for which we traveled but my dad noticed that the body of water below us was crystal clear. He was in awe of how deep the water was since it was transparent to him. God keeps revealing different revelations to me in connection with my dream.
This morning I was so enamored with God’s message I just had to share it with you. In remembering that the water was crystal clear to Daddy I started remembering different verses that spoke of transparency. In Ex. 24:10 it is written ‘Under his feet was something like a pavement of sapphire, clear as the sky itself.’ In Rev. 21:21 it is written, ‘The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.’ I began thinking about my dad seeing the same body of water as I but his spiritual perception was different than mine. Then the revelation came and what a blessing is was!
Every thing in this world was created by God and sits under His authority with the ability to be prisms. The world clouds and smudges our spiritual ability to reflect God and every facet of His character in our lives. The closer we move to the throne of God the cleaner our prisms become. Through the Holy Spirit our lives are polished and made transparent so that each facet is colored with the individual ‘Christ color.’ These colors do not distort or change the prism but enhance the transparency and its beauty.
To walk with God on these transparent streets we must become transparent ourselves. I get the feeling that heaven is full of crystal clear and transparent surroundings so that God’s glory will not be obstructed by anything. Every beam of light from Him will have a landing spot and will illuminate so brilliantly that there will be no need for light. ‘They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.’ Rev. 22:5.
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