Category: Digging in Deeper

Digging in Deeper: James 3:10

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“Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

We planted a garden this year. We try to do one every year. We don’t put a whole lot in our garden, but we do have some staples. Squash and zucchini are two of those staples. This year, we planted three squash plants and two zucchini plants. But, once the vegetables started coming to bear, four plants were yielding squash. Do you know what we said? It’s a miracle!

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Digging in Deeper: James 1:26-27

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“If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, his religion is useless and he deceives himself. Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

So, last time, we started out by spending some time looking at our culture’s struggles with the idea of religion. I told you that one of the common self-distinctions people often make when it comes to religious identity is that they are “spiritual, not religious” (SNR). People claim this identity because although they have been trained by either personal or impersonal experience or both to think poorly of religion, they don’t consider themselves secular or even merely agnostic. They just don’t like religion. For professed Christians who would claim this identity this is a real problem because they can’t grow well without the church and the church is a form of religion. As I asked before: What do we do with this? 

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Digging in Deeper: James 1:22

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“But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

Have you ever heard a really stirring speech or maybe a sermon that grabbed hold of your heart and made you feel like you were ready to go take on the world? Did you? Or perhaps have you seen one of those commercials with the old white guy promising not to let anymore African kids starve if you give him your money filled with all kinds of really pathetic-looking little ones? Did it yank on your heartstrings? Did you send him money? Being stirred to action emotionally is one thing. Actually moving is something entirely different. James agrees. 

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Digging in Deeper: James 1:19-20

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“My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

We’ve all experienced some version of this before: Something has happened that, while not necessarily bad, is capable of being understood in a negative light. You hear about it in bits and pieces from someone who is sharing it with you third hand, and after hearing only half of the story, get ferociously angry. And in your mind, this is a righteous anger. God is offended at this and you with Him. You say or do some things that cannot be taken back. But, once that initial wave of rage has subsided a bit, you learn a bit more about the situation from someone who has firsthand knowledge and discover that your initial reaction was wrong. This wasn’t something worth getting angry about at all, and now you’re stuck with egg on your face. Oops. 

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Digging in Deeper: James 1:13-14

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“No one undergoing a trial should say, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone. But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever had one of those moments when you did something and then immediately thought, “Where did that come from?” I suspect we all experience that from time to time. We get caught in a raw moment and react in a way that catches us and everyone around us entirely off guard. The same kind of thing can happen with temptation. James here, though, tells us we shouldn’t be quite as surprised as we are.

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