HOME | POLITICS | SPORTS | LIFE | SCI/TECH | OPEDS | HELPFUL TIPS
|
Aug. 7, 2006 “1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. 2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” (James 1: 1-8 NIV) I was contemplating this phrase: “To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:” because James is writing to those he calls “brothers” many times throughout his letter. Was James writing to “the Jew first” or was he writing to Christian “brothers” he considered having become part of the “twelve tribes scattered abroad”? It is true that the first few thousand Christians were all Jews. The Day of Pentecost saw 3000 saved as a result of the first post resurrection sermon by Peter. Yet, James was also a Jew who did not neglect his roots. So it might have been too that he still considered every Jew his “brother”. Whichever it was, James was writing to men of “faith”. The Hebrew religion was largely a religion of works by the time Jesus came to “fulfill” the Law of Moses. Faith was not part of the larger discussion. The Messiah was relegated to a form of mythological hero because the religious leaders of Israel were tired of waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises to King David. The Messiah was to be a ruler, not a carpenter. When Jesus did arrive and begin his ministry of truth, the Pharisees saw the possibility of becoming irrelevant. They had been teaching the nation for some 400 unobstructed years. They had created a whole host of rules and regulations that kept the people in reliance of the ministry for salvation. They were not told of the simplicities of faith in the Messiah. James tells those of faith that if they lack wisdom they should ask God directly. Looking to men for the answers to eternal life is really just folly. Natural men do not have these answers. Only God can explain himself fully to the un-doubtful mind. James later explains the importance of work to the life of the one in faith. He examines the truth that one is meaningless without the other. Faith gives meaning to work. Work gives testimony to faith. And that is a proof. Someone recently asked the question can someone do well and not be religious? I believe natural men have goodness in them because I witness that every day. Charities don’t exist solely on the contributions of the religious. There are millions of individuals who don’t give God or church a single thought during the day and yet they live their lives and raise their children and go golfing or to a ballgame. I’m sure most, when they see a stranded motorist, offer to help fix the tire or use their cell to call for roadside aid. Anyone who thinks the Holy Spirit only prompts good works from those who are sealed is thinking wrongly. God can get goodness out of those he has not claimed. There are too many places in the world where those truly faithful to God are not found. Yet even in those places goodness is needed, if only as a contrast to the surrounding evil. Paul wrote that there are men who abide by the law even outside knowledge of the law (of Moses). He said such people are a law unto themselves because they do naturally what God had spoken as morally correct. For goodness to have eternal worth it must be prompted by faith in Jesus. Temporal worth is good for immediate stress relief or ego boosting, but these works are listed under “wood, hay and stubble”. Re-reading the letter of James was a blessing for me. It was also a reminder that my work needs to be witnessed for God to gain the glory due him. The light of the world doesn’t shine its brightest hidden under bushel baskets. Never forget. The Lord Jesus always knew what he was talking about. James writes that if we lack such wisdom we should go straight to the source. ------------ Email Skip: skiptoomaloo@hotmail.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
