The Wednesday Word 5.3.2023

 

James 1:16-22 NLT

 16 So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. 18 He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.

19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. 20 Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. 21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. 22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.

 

The Book of James may be short, but it packs quite a punch. If you are not squirming under the conviction of its plain speaking, you may need to contemplate the sin of hubris. None of us is “all that.”  What we say and do can bring us closer to the God who loves us or can be the source of our own downfall. James makes that clear. The final verse of this passage sums it all up. If you are simply listening to what the Bible has to teach us, but are not implementing its teachings, you are fooling yourself. If you think you are a pretty good person and don’t need to learn and grow, you are fooling yourself. If you think you don’t need God’s mercy and forgiveness, you are fooling yourselves. 

 

Human nature leads us to do a lot of fooling. It is a hard thing to examine our own attitudes and choices, and then truly come to terms with what we discover. We tend to think we are doing way better than we really are. We compare ourselves to our peers. We compare ourselves to people we read about or see in trouble on TV.  We need to compare ourselves to Jesus. It his standard we should be striving to achieve, not human standards. “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” Now that is something to pray about.

 

Don’t forget to look for the Lord today. Vicki H. 


                                                                                                photo by Quino Al
                                                                                            

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