Today’s verse is a ‘rest of the story’ to James 1:2-4 which talk about trials making you strong. Today's verse covers another caveat of trials. James 1:12 says:
Some people are told that you are a Christian if you prayed a little prayer.In fact, they get you disturbed emotionally by telling you how painfully it will be if you do not “accept Jesus”.The message delivered is often times misbalanced in that it provides all the “goodies” of being a Christian, but never talks about what a Christian really is, or any of the “downfalls”.It is clear that when we give the Gospel message to people, we balance it.Jesus said in Luke 14:25-33:
Some people are well off and boast about it. They may be in sin. Others are very poor and hide in the scenery, determined to never be seen. They may also be in sin. What does the Bible say about these living in poverty or wealth? Today’s verse is James 1:9-11:
We had just finished our small group discussion of spiritual gifts which included our usual (though slightly abbreviated) prayer session. We prayed for all sorts of matters, one of them being the children. As we closed the study, I headed out to the kitchen where five of the kids were huddled around a small TV in the kitchen.
Small worries often overtake us. As students, we worry about exams, as employees, we worry about job concerns, as parents, we worry about kids, as adults, we worry about aging parents. The list goes on. How should we live our lives? What decisions do we make? Are we making them from faith?
Read James 1:1-4
First, a little history: This is one of the books that was examined closely during the reformation. Martin Luther initially did not consider it canon because of the emphasis on works. Some people, however, fail to realize that after careful study, it was indeed scripture. John Calvin always considered it inspired, as do we today. What all those works-laden passages mean will be examined when we get to those.
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