Read James 4:7-12

Winning Combination

How do you correct mistakes?

James proposes an interesting sequence of action as he outlines for us how to correct the bad actions he described in the first part of Chapter 4.

First, submit to God. Following Jesus’ example, pray “Thy will be done” and mean it. That’s the first thing. Second, face your enemy squarely. “Resist the devil,” James says. Don’t roll over and play dead in the face of temptation. Defy Satan. Then comes the other side of the sandwich, “Come near to God.”

James’ order of action is remarkable. After submission to God, the logical next step would seem to be coming near to God. But no, you fight the devil next. With God’s help, win the victory. Then comes the precious promise. “Come near to God, and he will come near to you” (v. 8). After outlining heartfelt repentance, battling the devil, and giving yourself humbly to God without reservation, James says the victorious life will follow. God “will lift you up” (v. 10).

Having summarized our route to God, typical of James he gives us a short lecture in practical Christianity. Don’t slander anyone. Don’t set yourself up as a judge of others. Who are you to judge your neighbor? What do you know? Only God is Lawgiver and Judge.

We are back to taming the tongue, aren’t we? It’s one of James’ strong categories, as he depicts a near-universal human weakness.

Read James 4:1-6

Internal Combustion

Would you rather fight than switch?

            Is there something about a fight that appeals to our fallen nature more than working out a peaceful solution? If I sit down with my opponent to discuss the matter, I might have to compromise. I might not get my way, only part of it. So I’d rather fight. James says it’s the old “God vs. the world” struggle.

            Who are you going to love? The world takes you as you are and makes you worse. God accepts you as you are and makes you better. The world comes in a thousand guises, seductively. Jesus knocks at your door in straightforward honesty (Rev. 3:20).

            James does not mince words. He says you don’t get answers to prayer because you don’t pray. You’d rather fight about it than ask for God’s help. He plunges on. When you do pray, you ask for the wrong things from the wrong motives (v. 3).

            Maybe James has hit on something. When a prayer is unanswered, should I first explore my real motives? Before I demand that the Lord do XYZ for me, perhaps the first item is to come to the Lord in humility, asking Him to reveal my true, and perhaps unconscious, motive in praying. Then, James says, you will be a candidate for God’s grace, given freely to those who come humbly before their God.

Read James 3:13-18

Two Wisdoms

“Watch him and see what he does.”

That’s an old piece of advice that James would have agreed with.

He says that we know whether you are a “wise and understanding” person by what you do. Two kinds of wisdom exist he says, worldly and godly. A good, God-honoring life is reflected in good deeds, done humbly and with wisdom, good fruit. On the other hand, “earthly, unspiritual” wisdom comes from the devil. It also bears fruit in the individual’s life. It is marked by “bitter envy and selfish ambition” (v. 14).

Is ambition wrong? Shouldn’t Christians be high achievers? No, it’s not wrong, and yes, our heavenly Father wants us to be the best we can be. As the late, great Ethel Waters used to say, “My Jesus don’t make no junk.” What is wrong is getting ahead at somebody else’s expense.

Francis Schaeffer points out that if two persons of the same race marry, and the woman shortly produces a child of obviously mixed race, we can only assume she has been with someone besides her husband. Christ, our Savior, is described in scripture as our “bridegroom.” Dr. Schaeffer bids us not to commit spiritual adultery by bringing forth the fruits of the devil—jealousy, bitterness, selfishness. As Christians, the bride of Christ, let us bring forth His fruits—love, joy, peace, patience, long-suffering. [Francis A. Schaeffer, True Spirituality, chap. 7, pp. 80-89, especially p. 81.]

Read James 3:1-12
Small Explosion

What do a horse’s bit, the rudder of a ship, a spark of fire, and my tongue have in common?

All are small but pack a big wallop, James says.

James is pessimistic. He says you may train a dog or charm a snake (v. 7), but you cannot tame a tongue. Our tongues are forked, double, untrustworthy, unreliable. The same mouth praises God and curses other people. This distresses James (vv. 10, 11). What’s more, humans are unique in this forked-tongue ability. It doesn’t happen in nature. James points out that salt water and fresh water cannot come from the same spring. But we humans surely know how to talk out of both sides of our mouths.

Is there no hope? First he says we all stumble badly. Then he makes a statement that seems to contradict what he has just said. He says that if you are never at fault in what you say, you are a perfect person. If you can control your tongue, everything else will fall into place (v. 2).

Since James mentions the ability to control our tongues, there must be some way to achieve it. Are we brought back to what he says in Chapter 1? Persevere in your walk with the Lord, asking Him who is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6) for the wisdom needed to live a triumphant life (James 1:4, 5).