Scripture(s) Referenced: James 1: 2-18

Trials and Temptations

In the midst of one of the most difficult, frustrating, discouraging, insert-negative-adjective-here times I have ever gone through, I was not thrilled to write about James’ interpretation of Trials and Temptations and how I should look at them with pure joy.  In fact, I really struggled to get started on this based on my prior knowledge of these passages.

How was I supposed to interact with these verses when I knew I wasn’t in any way looking at the trials I’m facing with the wisdom and maturity called for? How can I call others to look at the troubles in their lives with grace? It almost seemed comical at first; the irony of my situation and what I’m writing about. 

When I think about the everyday trials I face in my life, it is very easy to become jaded towards God. Oftentimes I find myself unable to think about how I can find joy in the cards I’m being dealt, which is very valid. I feel like I grew up in an environment where everything negative was from God. After a long enough time, that can really start to affect the way you look at things in your life! How was I supposed to rejoice in the good when I know the same God sent the bad? 

I have started to look at it in a relational sense. Yes, these bad things are happening in my life, but how is that affecting me? Am I growing closer to others because of it? Am I growing more mature in having gone through it? How exactly should we look at God’s presence in the bad stuff? I don’t have an answer, which may be contradictory to what many believe a devotional should do. I think this is something that we all have different opinions on. I don’t see God in trials the same way others will, and that’s okay. Our relationships with God are personal, and I feel further deconstruction of how we see God in the trials, in the temptations, and even in the good can be healthy and beneficial to our spiritual maturity. I would encourage you to dig deeper into that relationship and really think about how you see God in these situations in your life as I can’t tell you how YOU see God. 

Questions to Think About:

1. How do you see God in situations in your life? The bad, the good, and the neutral.

2. How do these situations affect you both internally and externally?

3. What can you do to be able to more easily see God in your day to day lives?

 Scripture(s) Referenced: James 1: 19-26

Listening and Doing 

I vividly remember being told to look at this verse growing up. I was (and am still, though significantly less) a hothead with a very short fuse. So many adults around me would bring these verses up, which never really seemed to help my being upset (shocking, I know). It wasn’t until I really read and understood what the verse was calling me to do (and some soul searching), did it click for me. 

In studying these verses, I found that my quick reactions to anger and frustration stemmed from being passionate about something and not knowing how to navigate those situations positively. I know I’m not the only person to ever struggle with this. However, this isn’t what we as Christians are called to do. While being quick to listen and slow to speak is what we should strive for, that completely goes against human nature; and human nature is so hard to go against! This isn’t something we will be able to do right off the bat. I’ve been trying for years and my words still get the better of me sometimes. However, the action of striving to go against our human nature and actively trying to live the life of love and light Jesus spoke of is so important to how others perceive us as Christians and how we interact with God. Remembering this has honestly been a game changer in how I go about my everyday interactions and how I react to things. I’m not always perfect and it is pretty common knowledge that I won’t ever be. However, knowing that my reactions are something I can strive toward elevating to be more Christ-like and that this struggle isn’t one just I am going through is encouraging everyday. 

Questions to Think About:

1. What emotions tend to make it hard to be “quick to listen and slow to speak”?

2. What makes being “quick to listen and slow to speak” important?

3. What are some things you can do this week to listen more intentionally (especially when you notice those certain emotions that make it difficult to do so)?

Scripture(s) referenced: James 2:1-26

The book of James is a letter addressed to Jewish people abroad. It provides warnings for what they should avoid doing if they choose to remain faithful. This devotional will be focusing on the second chapter of this book. It has two central themes, both of which will be explored in detail individually.

Theme 1

The first theme can be summed up by stating that you should not discriminate against others. In the book of James, he refers to treating the rich preferentially but neglecting the poor. He refers to such actions as discrimination and a sin,

“But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law” (James 2:9).

This theme can easily apply to our lives as we all have our biases against other people. Even if we do not realize it, small things in how we perceive people can shift how we act around them. We need to work hard to recognize these biases and understand how this influences our actions towards others. If we create an unwelcoming environment for certain people, there is something inherently wrong with that. A part of being Christian is being welcoming to others, and James warns us that we need to be aware that we show all people the compassion and respect they need as people.

Theme 2

The second theme can be summed up by the idea that you should do good deeds as a result of being faithful to God. James states

“How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds” (James 2:18).

Actions speak louder than words, and claiming to be faithful without showing it in action is wrong according to James. We need to use our faith for good by helping others when we can. Good deeds can come in any form or size, and this can reinforce your faith. James also tells us that the most faithful people in the Bible have done good simply out of faith. 

“Don’t you remember that your ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete” (James 2:21-22).

Even in early books in the Bible, prominent people were not only faithful but applied it in action. Although this example may be confusing since it involves Abraham trying to sacrifice his son (a topic for another devotional for sure), it shows that Abraham was so faithful to God that he would give anything on command. It does not call us to sacrifice people of course, but it shows how Abraham did not simply claim that he would do anything, he really did anything for God. Don’t just claim that you will do good… actually follow through. As James says, this is what will complete our faith in God and Christ. 

Conclusion & Resources

To sum it all up, James shows us two ways that we need to act towards others. We need to be inclusive to everyone, trying not to discriminate against others. Acknowledging our biases and trying to beat them is important. We also need to show our faith by helping others, not just keeping to ourselves without giving a hand when needed. These things can help us be kind to more people as we should all do.

If you are looking to use this in your own life, there’s many ways to realize what you could change in the way you think and act. If you want to explore your biases, you can first try to see what your initial thoughts are in certain situations, the almost knee jerk reaction when you experience something. This can give some clues as to what your underlying biases are. Another way is to take some quizzes that can help reveal what biases you may have, found in the link https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html. 

If you want to express your faith by doing good deeds like James, take some time to think of the small ways you can help someone else in daily life. You could also look for volunteer work that interests you and can help someone else in need. Bringing any good brought to the world is what we are called to do, so think about how you like to help others and find ways to do it! 

 Scripture(s) referenced: James 3: 1-18

With the new semester starting, it can be interesting to see how what we learn in our classes can affect the way we read the Bible. I am an Education major here at UCF, and a lot of my classes discuss behavior management. One of the main takeaways I get from learning about behavior management in the classroom is that giving students specific, appropriate behaviors is much more beneficial than telling them what not to do. For example, it’s better for a teacher to tell a student to keep their paper on their desk instead of asking the student to not throw their paper or not put their paper on the floor.

I think that this applies to everyone, including Christians when we read the Bible. Sometimes, the passages we read can be pretty clear on what we should do. Sometimes, we get the “do’s.” Other times, the authors of the Bible seem intent on only giving us the “don’ts,” which can make it pretty hard to figure out exactly how we should live. When I get passages like the latter, I do my best to shift the negatives into positives I can use in my life. Let’s take a look at some verses from the first half of James 3.

“Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.” (James 3:5; NIV)

This verse by itself seems to be going in a pretty positive direction. Fires can be metaphors for good things that are spreading rapidly, or it can mean having a passion for something. I started out thinking I was about to get some information about how our words can do so much good. But the next verse isn’t exactly uplifting…

“The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” (James 3:6)

I found it difficult to sit with this verse because it seems like it’s saying that our mouths can only produce evil. At least how I see it, that’s not necessarily true. In this verse, James is trying to describe how easy it is for our tongues to be corrupted and that we need to be super careful with what we say. I firmly believe that our tongues can be set on fire by God and give sparks to the world in the best way. So, let’s turn this verse into a more positive way of thinking. Instead of asking God, “Please don’t let my tongue be corrupted,” let’s instead say “I want my words to be influenced by you, God.” We can take this restructuring a step further by looking at a verse later in the passage.

“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters this should not be.” (James 3:9-10)

“This should not be.”

Okay, so we shouldn’t speak negatively about others. Pretty easily, we can determine that the positive behavior would be to be kind and make the words out of our mouths be positive! We often think of praise as something mostly for God, but we also need to give it to other humans because we were all made in God’s likeness. But obviously it would be impossible to never say anything mean and to always be positive. James himself mentions in this passage that we can never tame the tongue completely. Which brings us to the next step in modifying behavior: setting realistic goals!

Once we’ve identified what we should be doing, we have to figure out how to actually do it, which is easiest to do in small, measurable steps. If we can measure it, we can see if we met our goal or not! It’s difficult to say, “I will be nice to people,” and decide if we did it or not. If we instead say, “I will say something nice to at least one person each day this week,” that is much simpler! 

Challenges to Reflect on

I challenge you to set a realistic, concrete goal for yourself this week about using your words in a positive way, influenced by God. This can be any goal that you think would work best for yourself, but here are a few simple examples:

• At least 5 times this week, I will show the love of Christ by giving an unsolicited compliment to someone in my life. 

• At least once this week, if I realize I have used my words in a way that has a negative impact, I will do my best to replace the negative words with positive ones. 

• This week, I will tell at least 1 person about Jesus and the Gospel.

Go forward with your goal in the coming days and be sure to reflect on the outcome at the end of the week! Then some new, more challenging goals can be set that will help us even more to live and speak in a Christ-like fashion.

 Scripture(s) Referenced: James 4: 1-17

Upon my initial read of James 4, I felt surprisingly discouraged… 

Often, when I think about reading the Bible, I imagine passages of hope and stories of Jesus, especially when looking at the New Testament.  While I admit to not being the most avid reader of the Bible, I always thought the depressing parts were part of the Old Testament, and the New Testament was reserved for the more upbeat stories of Jesus and the early church (not counting Revelation of course).  However, this chapter appears to fight that expectation.  Upon first glance, this chapter is surprisingly negative, with James focusing on what’s wrong with the world around him.  Though unexpectedly pessimistic, James still offers us valuable advice.

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”  (James 4:1-3)

James starts off strong here by talking about fights and killing and the causes of such events.  After reading these first few verses, I hope you can see why I was initially discouraged.  At first glance, it’s like James is telling us that all the fighting and killing around us is simply due to desire. Straightforward and simple.  While there is some truth to that, I don’t think it’s that simple.  I think the key to these verses isn’t the fact that we desire. Let’s be honest, as humans we’re going to desire and there’s no way around it. What’s important is how we go about that desire and act on it.  If we simply act out of desire alone, that’s when we get into sticky situations that lead to fights and quarrels and killing, we must put our desires to God.  But then again, unsurprisingly, things aren't that simple.  We can’t simply ask God for what we desire and expect to be able to act on it with no problem.  It’s about our motives as well.  Oftentimes our desires root from selfishness and pleasure, so it’s natural that we aren’t able to get what we want.  Therefore we must check that our motives are just and put those to God.

“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”” (James 4:4-6)

Verse 4 especially gave me trouble on initial reading.  At face value it seems like this verse is telling us not to be friends with the people around us, for it will mean betraying God in the process.  If the previous verses weren’t enough this’ll certainly get you down.  How are we supposed to spread Jesus’ love without being friends with  those around us?  However, a little more context helps to give a bit more hope and a better understanding of what this passage is saying. I think a more optimistic view tells us that rather than being friends with the world is a betrayal of God, it’s choosing to befriend the world OVER God that’s the betrayal.  Rather than being proud and thinking we could gain more from befriending the world compared to befriending God, God favors those who accept God’s friendship, for God is the source of our spirit.

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (James 4:7-10)

Now verses 7 and 8 seem pretty straightforward, turn to God and resist the Devil, pretty basic stuff there.  The part that confuses me though is the next verse, where James says to change our laughter to mourning and our joy to gloom.  It may just be me but that seems very depressing, and is a bit challenging to comprehend.  Why would God want us to be mourning and gloomy rather than laughing and joyful?  Because of the difficulty I had with this verse, I turned to a friend to see what she thought it meant.  She said that to her, it means that because we’re sinners and double-minded (a state of spiritual instability as I understand it) we grieve, mourn and wail, but this is before we humble ourselves before Christ and are lifted up.  After hearing her interpretation, this passage and verse makes a lot more sense.  Though we may reach this low point of gloom and mourning, it’s through Christ that we can be lifted out of it.

“ Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?” (James 4:11-12)

Thankfully at least something James says in this chapter is straightforward and not super depressing at first glance.  Essentially verses 11 and 12 tell us not to judge or slander those around us, for we aren’t the one who plays Judge.  As something many of us have heard most of our lives, this lesson is pretty easy to understand.  Whether Christian or not, the message to not judge others is a classic, and is one for a reason.  It’s a good lesson to live by and can prevent a lot of damage and hurting of others.  However, putting that lesson into practice is something that a lot of people, myself included, find a bit more challenging.  As someone admittedly struggling to put this into practice, the best advice I can give to grow from this is to become more aware of doing it.  By just becoming aware of how we judge and slander others, we can hopefully recognize it easier and learn to prevent it.

“13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” (James 4:13-17)

This was another one that was a little harsh at first.  The first two verses of this section seem to discourage planning for the future.  As someone who loves planning in general, coupled with a fear of the unknown, this message was hard to wrap my head around.  Even though we don’t know the future, isn’t it still a good idea to plan ahead?  Why does James seem to argue against this idea?  Isn’t calling people mist that vanishes a little harsh?  Again, this was another passage that got a little less pessimistic as you read on, specifically verse 15 in this case.  Because of the inclusion of verse 15, the meaning of the passage changes.  Rather than telling us to not plan for the future, I think James is telling us to plan our future with the Lord and/or through the Lord, and choosing not to do so is a sin.

Conclusion

After giving this chapter a more thorough read along with some time to digest, James seems to be a lot less aggressively negative than at first glance.  While some parts of this chapter still don’t sit quite right with me at the moment (which will hopefully change with time), my view on this chapter has changed some.  Rather than being depressing and pessimistic, telling us all the things we can’t do and being unfairly strict, I’ve come to view James more so as tough love, being strict in order for us to be the best we can for ourselves and the Lord.