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.

James 1:2-4 – “In Training ... And Loving It!”

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

²My brothers, reckon all joy when you fall into various testings, ³knowing that the testing of your faith is producing endurance, ⁴but let that endurance be having a fully realized work in order that you might be being fully developed and complete ones, ones who are lacking in nothing.

The Lord is so amazing to me. I have known these verses for over thirty years and they have encouraged me along the path at many different times and in many different ways. When I took up this study, I had that feeling, “I already know these verses. In a sense I’ve been nursing on them, living on them all these years. What else could I gain from them?” But I’ve known Him long enough to know He never runs out of aces. And sure enough He drew another one on me and rocked my world … again. I almost want to ask, “How can one God rock a man’s world this many times, this often?” He just never lets up. He is so amazing. Every passage I study, He blows my mind. I sit here at my keyboard literally at a loss for words. The words of the old hymn come to my mind, “O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise!” Years ago I memorized Jer 33:3, “Call unto Me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things thou knowest not.” Wow did He mean it.

One of the things I have been struggling with is the fact that life is so endlessly difficult. I am a man blessed beyond my wildest dreams. I really am. Words again would fail me to tell of my wife and children, my family, our home, my job, our community, our church, memories of my happy childhood, so many good friends I’ve known, and on and on. The Lord is and has been good to me far, far beyond reason. But even as I acknowledge that, it is also true that to me life seems unbearably painful. Even as a blessed man, I pretty much always feel under enormous pressure, aware of a thousand things that “could go wrong,” threatened in so many ways, naturally fearful of the future, feeling confused about so many things, being misunderstood, having to “keep going” even though sometimes I feel even my bones are tired.

Then add to this that I am aware one of the fruits of the Spirit is joy. I learned some time ago and the Lord really showed me how that joy is something I have regardless of my circumstances, that it is a joy actually in Him, in seeing His beautiful face even as the storm howls around me. For some reason, of late I just haven’t been able to grasp onto that. From some reason I couldn’t get it to “work.” I know all of those things but the joy seemed a very faint faraway thing. It just all hurts so much. As I have before, I found myself struggling to be joyful. The pain just seemed too much, too constant, too endless. Chinese water torture.

And so I wade into James 1:2, “Count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into various temptations …” There you go. That’s my problem – I know somehow I should see joy in it all … I just don’t seem to be able to make it happen. I honestly just don’t see how to “do it.” So I keep reading and He goes on “…knowing that the trying of your faith develops endurance. Let endurance have its perfecting work that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

The floodlights kick on! Oh, wow. Something I’ve “known” but I think never really, really grasped before. To explain what I mean, I have to tell a story. The Lord planned back in about 1973 to teach me this very point.

As I studied this verse, here is the memory He brought back to my mind: “Go!” shouted my track coach Louie Baker. On this particular day, he wanted us to run ten quarter-miles, each in 75 seconds, with only 30 seconds rest between each one. “I’m going to say ‘Go,’ he told us, then start my clock. You have 75 seconds to get back around here to the starting line, then you will have 30 seconds to rest before I say, ‘Go’ again. If you get here late, you’ll just have less time to rest, because I will be saying go after my 30 seconds regardless of when you got here.” Let me say, for a high school runner to run a 75 second quarter-mile (one lap around) is a piece of cake. I wasn’t a sprinter but I could run a 57 second quarter. The first one would be no problem. With 30 seconds rest, even the second one wouldn’t be bad. But ten? In a row?

Before he started, he explained what he was up to. For world class runners, the holy grail is to break a 4:00 minute mile. But for farm boys in high school in 1973, it was a 5:00 minute mile. For us it was breaking a 5:00 minute mile and even being able to say we’d run a mile in 4-anything. Coach Baker explained that if we ran a one-mile race and ran four 75-second quarters, that would equal exactly 5:00. If we could, in training, run ten quarters in 75 seconds with the 30 seconds rest in-between, we should, he reasoned, be able to run four back to back in a race and be in sight of actually breaking that 5:00 minute mile.

Made perfect sense to me. “Bring it on,” said my heart. And off we went. Sure enough the first one was easy. I loped across the finish line in something very close to the 75, got my 30 seconds rest, and when he shouted, “Go!” I was off again. By the third or fourth, it was getting rough, but I still did it. I understood where he was going and loved it. Wow – to actually be able to run a mile in the 4’s! “Go!” By the seventh or eighth, my lungs were literally on fire! But I understood where he was going and loved it. “Go!” By the tenth one, I think I was having out-of-body experiences. I honestly don’t think, up to that day, that I had ever done anything that hard, that painful. But I did it. And I understood why I was doing it. And I wanted that goal.

As Louie Baker had surmised, I did in fact, go on to break that 5:00 minute mile. I ended up running several 4-something miles, a memory that I add to my long, long list of blessings I’ve enjoyed in this life. For me, it is a trophy in itself just to know that I ran a mile in the 4’s!

“…knowing that the trying of your faith develops endurance…that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Oh, yeah. I’m in training. That’s what’s going on. The Lord wants to make something out of me. I want Him to make something out of me. He wants me to really learn to walk with Him, to love God and love people, to live above fear, to be brave, to be kind, to do good, to build relationships, not wreck them. That’s what He wants for me and that’s what I want too. I want what He wants. I see where He’s going with His training plan.

I’m in training. That’s why it’s hard. The Lord is burning out the old me. That’s why the Chinese water torture. Every morning, every day, He shouts, “Go!” and I’m off. My head spins, my lungs burn, I face one unpleasant situation after another after another. They never seem to end. I’m in training. As I face each one praying for the Lord’s help, sincerely trying to live love, to be faithful, one by one, He gives me the grace and one day turns into another turns into another – and I hope it’s true I’m becoming a different man. I love it. I want to be different. I don’t want to be who I was. And every one of these challenges all day every day is one more quarter in the training camp of my Redeemer. Hopefully even my failures only make me more determined to keep at it, to cross that line in 75 seconds, to be a man who can run that 4-something mile of life.

I’m so excited. This week has been a whole new experience. I’ve found the challenges actually exciting. I know where He’s going. And I want to go there too! I don’t have to worry so much about the outcome. In a way, that is irrelevant. It is the process He’s designed. It’s the process He wants me to embrace. He’ll work out the results. I just need to work through it, be exercised by it, to “let endurance have its perfecting work.”

I loved my coach Louie Baker. He was my favorite coach of all time. He really believed in me. He made me what I was. When I ran those 4-something miles, it was his win as much as mine. But now I’ve got a better Coach, in a bigger game, with bigger trophies to win. I’m in training. And I love it. Not the pain so much, but where He’s taking me, what He’s doing.

He is so good. He gave me Louie Baker. He gave me that day of running quarters. He stored that memory in my head for all these years, then, as I was studying James 1:2-4, struggling to understand it and really grasp it, He brought that memory back. “Oh, yeah. I get it. I remember.”

Wow. I’m just four verses into this book and already He’s blessing me and rocking my world. I’m excited to keep studying. What a treasure chest. What a Savior! What a Friend! What a Father! What an awesome Coach!

Erkahm ka, Yahveh.

James 1:1 – “Sonshine Through the Clouds”

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

¹James, a servant of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which [are] in the Diaspora, greetings.

Well, well. Here we are. I am embarking on a study of the book of James after just finishing a study of the book of Galatians. These two books have been thought by many to teach two different gospels, Galatians a gospel of free grace and James a gospel of faith + works. Martin Luther even considered the book of James “a gospel of straw” and denied its canonicity. I believe the two books simply approach grace, faith, and works from different perspectives. I am quite sure one balances the other. That is in part why I selected this particular book for my next study. If I, in any way, have embraced some imbalance from my study of Galatians, hopefully the Lord will correct me through James.

Another reason why I have desired to study this book is because I have actually taught through it a number of times, though never having studied it myself. I generally have tried to make it a rule that I’ll not teach Bible until I myself have invested the time to study it (and live it for a while). There is great danger in simply repeating what others say the Bible means. I guess I felt that James is so straight forward that I could teach it without that investment. However, again, that is a delicate and dangerous business. So … I want to invest the time now and at least correct any misconceptions I may have embraced through my (arrogantly) having “rushed in where angels fear to tread.”

Finally, I want to study the book because I have in my library two commentaries, one by Robert Johnstone (1871) and another by Thomas Manton (1693). They, like my old friend John Eadie, are men who study the text carefully, think deeply about its meaning and application, then emerge as men of warm faith. I long to “walk with these wise men” and learn from their wisdom myself. A stroll with them through the book of James is a chance to do just that.

Interestingly, I didn’t seriously expect to gain much from studying verse 1, what is in a sense just a simple greeting. But my old friends pointed out some things I think worth noting. Three things at least are important:

First, we see in the greeting the severity of God’s judgment. To write to the Jewish Christians, he has to write to a people dispersed across the civilized world. One might pause and remember how the Lord called the Jewish people out of Egypt and miraculously delivered them into a land flowing with milk and honey. He drove out the peoples who lived there and gave to Abraham’s descendants a veritable Garden of Eden. He spared no detail and we saw under David and Solomon how a people could in fact be blessed almost beyond human imagination. He did all those good things for them, but He warned them, if they took it all for granted and embarked on a culture of godless self-destruction, He would take it all from them. And He did. Hmmmm. His name is El Shaddai – the God who does exceedingly abundantly above anything we could ask or think, but that is a two-edged sword. Just as He would bless us beyond our wildest dreams, so He may have to abandon us to our most hellish nightmares. The scattered Jewish people stand as a monument to both the goodness and the severity of God. He’s no one to trifle with.

Secondly, the Diaspora reminds us of the absolute immutability and infallibility of God’s Word. Someone pointed out that, based on Deuteronomy 28, you could have written the entire history of the Jewish people from Sinai to the present. All history has done is filled in the exact names and places and dates. When they followed Him, He blessed them exactly as He said He would and when they turned away, they suffered the exact judgments He said they would. Jesus came and said, “I am the way, the truth …” He is truth. All He says is true. His Word is absolute truth. The history of the Jewish people is also a monument to the truth of God’s Word. You and I can read James 1:1 and be reminded to hang our souls on the “very great and precious promises.” We will find Him to be absolutely true just as the Jewish people have.

Finally, we see the wonder of grace. Though the Diaspora is itself a judgment of God, yet He raised up a James to write them a letter, call them “brothers,” and hail them with “Greetings!” Ah, the wonder of grace. Our God reaches down to find us even in the midst of the consequences of our sins! Sometimes hardships (even self-inflicted) may seem like a cloud blocking out the sunshine of His face, yet He hasn’t changed. Behind the cloud the sun still shines as bright as ever. Regardless of our circumstances, regardless of how dark our days may seem to be, regardless even if we are quite sure we got here through our own folly, the God of grace yet waits to meet us, to be our God, to give us a love and joy and peace that, like His beautiful face, are ours whether we see the sun shine or not. James 1:1 would teach us that even in judgment, our God still would send blessing to those who love Him.

The sun is always shining, when you fly above the clouds,

Like the way my life is beautiful, whenever you’re around;

You soothe my soul like summer rain and make the world seem right;

You lift me up above the clouds and drive away the night.

What amazingly monumental truths – all in a single verse that I didn’t think would have much to say! Yep. His name is El Shaddai!

Looks like we’re on our way. Again.