James 1:9-11 – “Dangerous Tools”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁹And let the brother the one being in lowliness be exulting in the height of him ¹⁰but the rich in his lowliness because as a flower of [the] field he will pass away; ¹¹for the sun rises together with the scorching wind and parches the field, and its flower drops off and the beauty of its face perishes. Thus also the rich one will wither away in his going.

This has been a particularly interesting study. It has caused me to think thoughts I never thought before. I’ve certainly known this passage for years and have been very aware of its point, but I realize I have never thought deeply about it. And thinking deeply on Scripture invariably means to probe deeply into my own heart, my own thoughts, my own values, my own perceptions of reality, to hone off rough edges, to clarify what (I may have never even realized) was unclear, and to allow me (hopefully) to live more deliberately.

I think I have understood (particularly from James 1:1-8) the eternal and immediate values of hardship and troubles in our lives. When James says, “The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position,” he could be speaking of that brother’s position in Christ, that, regardless of his earthly estate, he has been raised with Christ, seated with Him in the heavenlies, made a child of God, a joint-heir with Christ, … all of those wonderful things. All of that is certainly true. But, James being a very practical book, I think the emphasis is more on the matter of the present world rather than purely eternal matters. That being the case, I am inclined to see that the poor man’s “height” is actually in his deprivations. James goes on to say in 2:5, “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith …?”

It is a great advantage in this world to be poor, in whatever way. I think it was John Calvin who said something like, “It must needs be that we meet with much trouble in this world, for our hearts are full of much iniquity.” We need constantly to be in the Lord’s training program, to have troubles burning out the idols of our hearts, to help us learn to be happily dependent on God. If we’ll allow them, troubles can be great wealth to us. They can gain for us that which matters most – character. If we have the spiritual eyes to see it, we can, in our poverty, see our great wealth. “Let the poor man glory in his high position(!).” His poverty may be the very vehicle that keeps him “rich in faith.”

But what does it mean for the rich man to “glory in that he is made low”? James goes on for a sentence or two (or three) highlighting the transitoriness of wealth. “Here today, gone tomorrow.” The poor man’s poverty gains him faith, which is eternal. The rich man’s wealth is by its very nature temporary. Neither it nor anything it gains him is of any eternal value. Jesus warned against “the deceitfulness of riches.” They, like the devil himself, offer us everything our hearts could desire, but give us nothing of any lasting value. Rather they would steal our hearts away from God and be our eternal ruin.

Here’s the thought that has been rocking my world: What James is saying is that, with spiritual vision, we should see that to be wealthy is actually the lowest possible position. If we truly value spiritual things, if we value eternity, if we value character and a relationship with God, we should be terrified of wealth. Timothy was to warn rich believers “not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God …” (I Tim 6:17). This command came on the heels of Paul’s warning that “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil” and that some, “eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (v10). Wealth is actually not something to long after but rather to dread! Hmmmm. That is a new thought to me.

I think it worth noting that “wealth” may take the form of many, many things besides money. I would suggest it could be anything we naturally value in this world, yet which is by its nature temporary. How many young women have we all known who were very beautiful, yet that very beauty was their ruin? Youth itself is a form of wealth, which, taken for granted, is often our ruin. Physical strength and good health can be “wealth” to us. Public applause and popularity are often our ruin. Movie stars, musicians, and professional athletes are all examples of people who have “everything” – stunning beauty, boundless riches, nearly supernatural talent, worldwide fame – and yet few of them “survive.” As the old people used to say, “It takes a steady hand to carry a full cup.”

Why don’t most of us go down like them in drug and alcohol addictions? How is it that we can stay married for a lifetime and they can’t stay married for 72 days? I thought they had “it all.” ? Does anyone else see what I mean if I say they have nothing at all? If you really want to be happy, to live a full life, to stay married for a lifetime, you would say, “Whatever they have, I don’t want it!” “Whatever they have that in the ends robs them of everything that mattered, whatever that is, I don’t want it!” And what is it? Wealth. To hold wealth (in any form) turns out to be the most dangerous, most undesirable, lowest estate you could possibly possess in this life. James says, “Let the poor man glory in his high position, but let the rich man glory that he is brought low.”

I think James is telling us that, wherever we find in our lives wealth, we should “make much” in our hearts of its danger. Rather than seeing it as our “high” position, we should rather see it as the lowest of lows. Wealth is something we must carry like nitroglycerine. We must see it for the enemy it may be. We must hold it with open hands before the Lord. No matter what it is, it is temporary. It is only “good” if the Lord, not our wealth, remains on the throne of our lives. Someone said, “The trick to having riches in your house is keeping them out of your heart.” Indeed, no man can serve two masters.

I guess I’ve known that there is great value in poverty and troubles and I have known that wealth should be seen as temporary. But I don’t think I’ve ever really thought to see wealth as something dangerous – dangerous to the point where I might even prefer to avoid it(!).

Hmmmm. Now, just to keep things in balance, we need to say that wealth in itself is not a bad thing. In the parable of the talents, one man was given five and ended up with ten, while someone else had only one. Joseph was a handsome man. David was a king. Job was the “richest man in the east.” Timothy wasn’t to command those rich in this world to “dispose of their riches” but rather “to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share” (I Tim 6:18). Wealth is certainly a good thing when it’s used for good. A wealthy person has great opportunity to do good. A beautiful girl can be quite the delight to her husband. A strong man can be a big help when it’s time to move the piano. Fame can be a great platform from which to glorify the Lord. So wealth, in and  of itself, and in whatever form it comes, is not necessarily a bad thing.

Having said all of the above, I think I see now how important it is to see our wealth as a dangerous tool to be used wisely, not something to clutch and be arrogant about. It’s not a bad thing, just a dangerous thing. It’s only good if it’s used for good, but that will likely only happen if we constantly remind ourselves of its danger, and, like it said above, while it’s in our house, we “keep it out of our hearts.”

Very, very interesting. The world makes a little tiny bit better sense to me.

I love studying the Bible. “And when you know the truth, the truth shall make you free.”

James 1:6-8 – “On Point”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁶But let him be asking in faith, doubting nothing, for the one doubting is like a surge of [the] sea, driven by [the] wind and tossed; ⁷for let not that man be supposing he will receive anything from the Lord. ⁸[He is] a man double-minded [and] unstable in all the ways of him.

As I related in my last post, I think it all too easy to read these verses, throw a few stones at that “evil double-minded man” and move on, never stopping long enough to hear Nathan say, “You’re the man.” I want to park here long enough that I see where in my own life I’m either being or likely to be a doubter, a double-minded man. And once again, I think it a terrible thing to be in a place where it can be said, “Let not that man think he shall receive anything from the Lord”(!).

And so I’ve tried to study this out.

First of all, James says, “But let him be asking in faith, doubting nothing, for the one doubting is like a surge of [the] sea, driven by [the] wind and tossed…” The Greek word I translated “doubting” is diakrino. It can mean simply “to separate, to make a distinction, to examine, to scrutinize, to inquire into both sides of a question.” It only takes on its negative connotation of “doubt” when used in relation to God.

Often throughout a day, I find myself in these periods of indecision, of cognitive dissonance. “What should I do? Which way should I go?” Depending on the pressure I’m under, it can be very unpleasant. “I just don’t know. I’m not sure.” From the study I’ve done, I think in these cases we need to recognize the difference between the “doubting/double-mindedness” of James 1:6-8 and the period of indecision when a person is gathering facts.

What I’m saying is that, just as in the word diakrino itself, one can simply be “examining” or one could have moved into the negative connotation of “doubting.” I would suggest that, for us humans who always have limited information, we almost always have to have a period of indecision while we gather facts and come to a place where we can confidently make a choice and move ahead. This happens all through the Bible, such as when Jesus says, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? … Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?” (Luke 14:28-31).

In the first example, a man is deciding whether or not to build a tower. He might and he might not. The jury’s still out. In the second, a king has to make a decision. He actually has another king coming against him. He has to make a decision. Should he fight or try to negotiate? This period of indecision is not a bad thing. That is Jesus’ whole point. You need to diakrino, to “inquire into both sides of a question.” That, in itself, is not being “double-minded.” We shouldn’t beat ourselves up over our “lack of faith” when we still legitimately need to gather facts and think something through.

In fact, this is our very context. We’re at a point where we’re “lacking wisdom.” The whole reason we’re praying is because we need wisdom to know what to do. So the “doubting/double-mindedness” isn’t the problem of indecision in itself. Where the problem comes, I think, is when the indecision involves what God has clearly revealed.

James says, If we lack wisdom, we should “ask in faith.” Here is a place where we need to call faith what it is (and isn’t). Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Clearly, faith is believing what God has said. It is not imagining what God could do or imagining what He says. It is believing what He has already clearly stated in the Word. As it says of Abraham, “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith, … being fully persuaded that what God had promised He was also able to perform” (Rom 4:20,21). Peter says that through God’s goodness He has given us “very great and precious promises” (II Peter 1:4).

So we can say that the double-mindedness is not the period of indecision while we really do not have the facts we need. It is, in some way, even during that period doubting whether God will keep His promises.

Here is one place where I’m thankful for the pitiful father who answered Jesus, “Lord, I do believe, help my unbelief.” I find myself often voicing those very words to the Lord. Even as I am praying, often I’m scared and I know I must trust that somehow God will in fact give me wisdom, that He will in fact work it all together for good, that He will in fact give me grace to endure it, that He will in fact insure that it will all yield “the peaceable fruit of righteousness” if I let Him “exercise me” by it. It takes faith to remember and believe that I’m in training and it’s all for good. Most of the time I don’t feel “strong in faith”. I feel like the father, “Lord, help my unbelief.” But I think it is safe to say, at least in the end, this also is not the “doubting/double-mindedness” James is warning us against.

In the end, it isn’t even a matter of our faith failures. Abraham had his Ishmael, yet still the Lord says he was “strong in faith.” The dichotomy of our sin nature guarantees that we will fail (often) in the battle of faith. Clearly, even that is not, in the end, the doubting/double-mindedness of which James speaks.

From my study, here is what I suspect: I think the problem has to arise not from the weakness of our humanness. It has to involve some way or another our “other” lover, the heart-idol of “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” It has to involve some way or another my addiction to what feels good and what looks good and what gets me applause.

God has told me that everything comes down to loving Him and loving people. Here I am in the middle of some trial. I am asking Him for wisdom. One way or another, it has to come down to the wisdom of how to keep loving Him and loving people. When asked the greatest commandment Jesus said this is it. He said in Matt 6:22, “If therefore your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light.” This “singleness” is the opposite of double-mindedness. Why wouldn’t I choose to love God and love people? I think it would be because there was some lust of my flesh, or lust of my eyes, or some love of applause that I want, at that point, more than to live by faith.

This is making sense to me. Single-mindedness is believing God’s promises and being determined to live a life of love. Double-mindedness would then be wanting to live by faith but keeping the side-door open to set this whole “love” thing aside -- just in case there’s something I want too badly. This would mean the right way is when I’m praying for wisdom, I’m not still deciding whether I’ll love but rather how. And I would suggest often the choice to love means I must be counting on some promise of God, because humanly speaking, I don’t see how this will “work.” My lusts promise me happiness and pleasure. God promises grace. With Him, love is always the answer. I just may not know what that means.

That really makes sense to me! I hope if someone is reading this, it is making sense to you. The doubter/the double-minded man isn’t just some evil man over there. He’s me when I’m forgetting it’s all about love, when, in the midst of all my troubles I start just wanting what I want and forget that every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of Lights. Nathan is right, I’m the man. But, like David, the good news, is I don’t have to be. And even better than David, I actually have the Holy Spirit of God living in me to help me be different.

I need to close this but I want to praise God that He makes us stable. Most of my life, I’ve been that unstable man, constantly making really bad choices, acting weird, doing really stupid things. In spite of every intention to the contrary, I have a very long chorus of regrets that never seems to stop playing in my head. For over 30 years, I have known the Lord and sincerely wanted to live His way, to do things right, and yet for all of that, I still end up a mess, seemingly having lived a life “like a wave of the sea, blown by the wind and tossed, unstable in all my ways.” The Lord has helped me to do a lot of things right, for which I am grateful. But there is also my sad Hall of Shame I built myself. I’ve just been unstable. Until now. In the last few years, the Lord has made this love thing so clear to me. The first and greatest command is to love. To love is to do it all. When I lack wisdom, I’m actually lacking the wisdom to love (His way). When I’m just “deciding what to do” I flounder around. But when I remember it all comes down to deciding how to love, all of a sudden I feel a sense of stability that fills my very being. It gives me that “single eye” Jesus spoke of. It allows me to see my world through His eyes. It keeps me on point. It seems so clear now. If I can just keep loving, in every situation, through every difficulty, it keeps me clear-headed. It keeps me from being driven by fear. It keeps me from manipulating. It just plain makes me stable. … And it comes straight from the hand and heart of God. I couldn’t have ever figured it out. He had to show it to me. And without His very great and precious promises, I couldn’t pull it off. I know I still have a long way to go, that I will still make too many bad choices, but praise God, I have a sense of stability in my heart today that I’ve never had before. I know exactly why and when “I’m the man” and what to do to change it.

God help us all to follow close on His heels, to, like John, keep our heads buried in His big strong chest, and may we all rise above our double-mindedness to be the people He made us to be. May we, passing through this Valley of Bacah, leave behind a place of springs, going from strength to strength, until we each appear before God in Zion. May we be no longer children, tossed to and fro, but speaking the truth in love, may we all grow up into Him who is the Head, even Christ.

Lord, we believe. Help our unbelief.

James 1:6-8 – “A Visit From Nathan”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁶But let him be asking in faith, doubting nothing, for the one doubting is like a surge of [the] sea, driven by [the] wind and tossed; ⁷for let not that man be supposing he will receive anything from the Lord. ⁸[He is] a man double-minded [and] unstable in all the ways of him.

Goodness I am sure enjoying this study. It is always such a blessing to sit and ponder long on a passage of Scripture. Here’s what struck me on this one: James is painting the picture of a man you and I do not want to be – the “double-minded” man, the doubter. As I read a number of commentaries, it seems to me that everyone gathers up their stones and lets fly at “that evil person.” “Bad!” they cry, “Look at that pitiful excuse for a Christian! That, that … doubter!”  My problem is, as I’m reading, I hear Nathan’s still, small voice saying across the ages, “You’re the man.”

I fear it is easy to read this passage and congratulate myself, “I thank Thee, Lord, that I am not as other men, … like this doubter!” James isn’t writing so we might see more clearly the sins of others. He wouldn’t even say these things unless we needed to hear it! And he wouldn’t say these things if it wasn’t an imminent danger for each of us.

Think about it: Here we are, struggling with the many hardships we face, feeling lost and confused, and we read that, if we lack wisdom, we should ask of God … and to further encourage us, he reminds us who our God is – One who gives freely and doesn’t find fault. Then into this beautiful picture, James inserts a warning – something of which to beware that lurks in the darkness of our desperately wicked, deceitful hearts.

I fear if we just cast our stones at the “evil doubter” and move on, we miss whatever it was the Lord was trying to teach us. I want to be sure I see this sin clearly in my own heart – how I do it and when … and have the wisdom to be aware when I am. Goodness, that is an awful warning, “Let not that man think he will receive anything from God.” What a tragedy – we have a God who gives freely, doesn’t find fault, who offers the promise, “If you lack wisdom, ask, and it will be given to you.” …And then to be found in a state of mind where the same God says, “Let not that man think he will receive anything from God.” Yikes!

Please be aware, even as I type, I don’t have any answers. I’m still trying to figure it out myself. You have caught me in process. Once I was studying through the book of I Corinthians and came to the verse, “And who makes you to differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? But, if you received it, why you do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (4:7). My first thought upon reading those words was, “I don’t think I do. I don’t think I ‘boast as if I didn’t receive it.’” But even as those words formed in my heart, I knew they were wrong. He wouldn’t ask it if it wasn’t a problem in my own heart. Then the Lord flooded my memory with a number of times I did exactly that, of so many times I said and did really ugly things because way down deep in my heart I really did believe I was better than everyone else. The realization was so unthinkably ugly, I felt I could die right where I sat. But as I stayed there before the Lord, I came to grips with it, saw the sin for what it was, and I hope, God help me, I repented of that awful evil. I am certainly no better than anyone else. Anything good in my life was a gift from God, just like everyone else. I am not God’s gift to humanity. I hope, having realized that, it makes me a more gentle, more understanding, patient person with others’ faults and weaknesses. As hard as that moment was, I am glad the Lord showed me that sin.

And so I sit here, wanting to say, “I don’t think I’m that doubter,” but, on the other hand, wanting to say, “Lord, show me where I am ‘the man’. No matter how ugly and painful it may be to see myself, I want to rise above it. But I won’t rise above it until I first see it clearly.

I’m going to end this blog here, study some more, and then record what I find in the next one. Nathan knows how to tell a good story. I just want to be sure, like David, I get his point.

James 1:5 – “Dependent on God”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of this verse:

⁵But if any of you is lacking wisdom, let him be asking from God, the One giving to all freely and not reproaching, and it will be given to him.

This verse could certainly stand completely on its own. On the other hand, it follows immediately upon vv.2-4, “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing …” When we face all the many, many difficulties a day brings, we find ourselves not really knowing what we’ll do it, how it will all fall out, what it will mean. It’s painful. And it’s scary. From the previous verses, I try to remind myself, “I’m in training. The Lord knows all about this and it will be fine in the end. Just focus on being faithful through it and it will all work out.” Those are comforting thoughts but they leave me still asking, “Yeah, but what should I do?”

That is precisely where v5 comes in: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God …”

The “if” is almost amusing, yes? The only “if” is whether we realize we lack wisdom! And there’s nothing like hardship to make us feel deeply just how much we do in fact lack wisdom!

Here’s the thought that has stood out most to me: It’s good to be dependent on God. Human beings were never intended to be autonomous. We’re people and He’s God. He created us and we need Him. The most fulfilled human being would be someone who has learned to depend on God where we should, yes? In that sense, being brought again and again to places where I’m crying out to Him is not a bad thing – if I’m learning to depend on my God. It’s helping me be real. It’s helping me be mature and balanced. It’s helping me be the person I was created to be.

It’s a good thing. It’s good to realize I lack wisdom, then realize I can ask of God, and again and again and again see Him make good on His promise “… and it will be given him.”

It’s another twist on my “training” angle from vv. 2-4.

I found as I went in to work this week and immediately got clobbered with a number of very difficult situations, it was hard to keep in focus, “Oh, yeah, I’m in training, and that’s a good thing.” Then as I studied verse 5, it makes sense to me that part of the training is this learning to depend on God, even simply the depending itself – and that those really are good things.

I like it. I like being dependent on God. The endless troubles in a sense keep me depending on Him.

Hmmmm. So whether it’s hardships and troubles or just questions, uncertainties, confusions, fears, or whatever, “If any one lacks wisdom, let him ask of God …” At that point we’re depending on Him and … that’s a good thing.