Faith In Action-The Path of Sin

James 1:14,15

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

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 Whose problem is sin? Well, it’s ours. Note what James says…our own lust. Lust here is not referring to sexual lust necessarily, just all the things we desire for. God did, in fact, create us all to seek certain things. Sexual desire is one of  those things. God created men to seek certain things: success, to be good at what we do. Inside of all of us are things God planted so we could use them in attaining His purposes. The fact that they exist is not wrong. The wrongness comes in our application of them.

So, God does not tempt us with sin. Even though Satan tempts us, he does not cause it, either. He does use our own desires, which we all have, to entice us to use them wrongly and sinfully. That is the enticement part, we are enticed to take our God given desires and point them the wrong way.

Having a desire, and even being enticed to head the wrong way, is not wrong necessarily either. Anybody reading not been tempted to sin or do wrong? I didn’t think so! So, what happens? Lust conceives; that is we come to some point where we think it is okay. And once the sin has conceived, that same thing happens with any conception: a birth. In this case, a sin is born.

Sadly, sin has consequences. When sin is finished, it brings forth death. One form is certainly physical death; sin is what brought that into the world and the death rate remains 100%. It also brought spiritual death, in the form of eternal separation from God.

But, God loves us. We will all physically die, but we need not all eternally die.

Faith In Action-God Does NOT Tempt Us With Sin

James 1:13

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

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Now James moves on to a different use of the word which was translated temptation. Here, James IS referring to temptation to sin; he is no longer discussing the tests and trials of life. James has made a transition from temptation, or trials, as a noun to the use of temptations, or sin, as a verb. He is talking about the act of sin.

The discussion of the origin of sin and evil in the world could be, and has been, written about in volumes. We aren’t going that deep here.

Clearly God allows and even causes things to be placed into our lives that will test and grow our faith; we have talked about that up to this point. This is not true of temptation to sin. God Himself cannot, of course violate His own Law; nor can He even entertain the thought of doing something out of His nature. In the same vein, God will never place temptations to sin and perform evil into our paths as a way to test and refine us. That is what we are being taught here.

Although God did not create, and is not responsible for sin, He did create us with free will. It did not take man long to exercise his free will and blow it. Even then, nobody wanted to assume responsibility for what they had done. Eve blamed the serpent; Adam blamed Eve and Adam even blamed God.

James is simply teaching us that our sin, and our actions, are our responsibility. Jesus saves us,and forgives us, but we are responsible for the things we do.

Faith In Action-Endure For a Crown

James 1:12

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

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Here, James is wrapping up his discourse on trials for the time being. After this, he takes off in another direction which we will explore later. At this point, the use of the word “temptation” is still referring to the idea of trials or testings; he will, as we will see, later change to a differing use of the word.

The crown referred to here is a crown such as the victor in an athletic contest would win for his feats of athletics. So, what is James telling us here? First, let’s discuss what he is NOT telling us.

In light of the overall context of this passage, it is clear James is not telling us that eternal life, or a crown of life or salvation is the reward for enduring the tests and trials of life. James was speaking to people who were already believers. So, we do not earn our salvation by enduring.

On the other hand, endurance of life’s tests and trial is clear evidence of our salvation and relationship with God. The worldly man is likely to cave in and be defeated by these tests, but the man of God has the power of the Holy Spirit in him to persevere and endure them.

However, even among believers, not all will truly show this evidence of their relationship with God. Even believers can cave in and become defeated. James is simply teaching us that there is a special reward on the future for those who trust in God through whatever life may toss at them.

Faith In Action-Faith In God Not Wealth

James 1:9-11

Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

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We need to say right away that James is not making any links between Godliness and poverty, or that a rich person cannot be Godly. The Bible never teaches us that you have to be poor to be a Godly, believing person.

James was, however, writing to people who were mostly suffering financially due to their circumstances; who were even being harassed and persecuted by those with wealth. James’ intent is to teach us that wealth is not what we should depend on, or the things of this world; what we are to depend on is the provision of God.

Here James is issuing reminders to both poor and rich brothers and sisters in Christ.

His reminder to the poor is that his poverty is a material one only and that in the eyes and sight of God he has just an exalted position as a rich man in this world.  The world and men may have tossed the poor brother aside, but God has welcomed him with open arms. His lot here on Earth may not seem pleasant, but he has an eternal inheritance to look forward to.

James also issues a reminder to the rich brother that, even though he may be wealthy, he should rejoice even in his trials because they show him the temporary nature of his wealth and the permanent nature of what God provides.

Finally, by comparing wealth to withering grass which fades away, James reminds us all that what we may have here is just transitory, but our riches in God’s Kingdom are eternal and secure. This is a reminder that rich or poor, we are all equals by faith in Christ.

Faith In Action-Pray Without Wavering

James 1:6-8
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

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We have learned that trials will come; we have learned why they come and we have learned the proper response to them, prayer. But the way in which and the heart with which we pray matter greatly.

God is not just some cosmic candy dispenser so we can put in a coin of prayer and get an answer dropped out in the palm of our hand. The Bible is simply full of examples of how we should pray, and James gives us yet more guidance here.

James tells us we should pray with faith. Do we really expect an answer when we pray, or are we just punching a prayer ticket? Do we really, truly believe that God is willing and able to solve our problem? We are to pray with faith, “nothing wavering” that is, we should pray with no doubt that God can and will solve our problem.

James compares a doubting prayer to a storm tossed sea. This implies instability, which James goes on clearly to say is just what a doubting or double minded man is. The issue seems to be here a question of just who are we depending on to solve our problem. Do we depend on the world to get us through our issues, or do we depend on God? Is God the place we go first or is He our last resort?

We never know what God has planned for us, or how He intends to get us through a particular thing. If we want to receive that blessing and help He offers, we have to approach Him without doubt, not wavering and with single mindedness of purpose. If we don’t, then what will we get? James tells us that we should expect nothing of The Lord.

Faith In Action-Why Be Joyful Over Trials?

James 1:3,4

Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

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We already know that James was inspired by the Holy Spirit to instruct us to react to our trials with joy. We are to be glad we are being tempted, or tried, rather than sad or upset over them. Why?

The simple answer is that we need to consider trials not from our standpoint, but from God’s standpoint. Of course, that is usually where we fail in most areas, when we fail to consider things from God’s viewpoint.

The trying of our faith “worketh patience.” We have all heard the old saying about being careful about praying for God to give us patience I am sure. Why is that? Because He won’t just give it to us; He will teach it to us.

“Let patience have her perfect work.” In other words, go with the flow so to speak. We need not fight, resist or rebel against the trial in our lives. Remember counting it all joy?

Now we come to the why part of things. We are given trials, in some cases, so that we may become “perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” Does this mean that we will become the picture of sinless perfection or be given all of the things we want. Well, I am afraid not.

That simply means that our trials will cause us to become mature in our Christian lives. To be perfect and entire here means simply we will become more grown up Christians, more suited to the work God wants us to do.

Specifically what type of things might God be trying to accomplish in our lives? Stay tuned and see.

Jonah and the really big fish..

A great post here about belief by my friend InsanityBytes

Not sure why, but Jonah keeps coming up lately. First it began with a discussion with some people about how a whale couldn’t have possibly swallowed Jonah, therefore we must toss out the entire bible. I gotta tell you, atheism requires a real leap of faith, because flat-out, you have to gamble your entire chance of salvation against your ability to misinterpret a tiny bit of scripture.

So, “I don’t believe in God because a whale is not a fish, it’s a mammal” has got to be one of the silliest things I’ve heard in a  while. The literal truth of the whale tale is we really don’t know. Jonah is swallowed by a “behemoth sea creature,” the only words we can really translate that to are “a big fish,” often presumed to be a whale. Jonah may have been swallowed by a giant cracken of the sort that eats pirate ships for all I know.

So now we have Jonah in the belly of a giant cracken, which really makes no difference to me because the precise nature of the beast that swallowed Jonah is not really the story at all. Which leads me to garden fairies, yes garden fairies, because no one can tell a proper whale tale with a cracken and a pirate ship, without adding some  garden fairies to it.

The garden fairies must enter our story, because as everyone knows non belief is a rational, logical, resistance to believing in anything you haven’t been provided absolute proof of. Like garden fairies, except you sure don’t see me running around investing all my time in trying to disprove the existence of garden fairies. I don’t demand proof of garden fairies at all. In fact, I have absolutely no evidence that they don’t exist therefore it would be completely illogical for me to try to claim they don’t. Even more insane for me to demand they show themselves or I’ll just refuse to believe in them and that will teach them a lesson…..read the rest of the post here: Jonah and the really big fish..

What you say vs. What God says

I am really thankful that, when time gets pressed and I find little time to write, that I have blogging friends who keep writing things that I can share with you. Of course this one ironic since my friend James actually reposted this from an earlier one of his!

You Say:  “It’s impossible.”

God says: “All things are possible” (Luke 18:27)

You say: “I am too tired”

God says:  “I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28-30)

You say:  “I cant go on.”

God says:  “My grace is sufficient.”  (II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 91:15)

You say:  “Nobody really loves me.”

God says:  “I love you.”  (John 3:16 & John 13:34)

You say:  “I cant figure things out.”

God says:  “I will direct your steps.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)………………..

Read the rest of the post here : What you say vs. What God says

I see dead people

Are you one of the walking dead? A great post here by a new blogging friend Caroline Smith. Blessings and enjoy!

I grew up in a funeral home, where on any given day maybe 12 feet away from where my siblings and I were eating, watching TV, doing homework, or arguing about whose turn it was to do whatever, a dead body lay. Not in the same room…that would be weird…but in a room beneath our living quarters.

Below us, in the dead quarters, lay the lifeless remains of one, sometimes two or three individuals who had recently met the fate that awaits us all. My siblings and I periodically were a lot closer than 12 feet from the dead bodies and so were familiar with their heavily made up, expressionless faces and cold, folded hands. Nothing going on in there, we knew.

I wonder sometimes how many dead people each of us come in contact with, on any given day. Walking dead, that is. Because just as our bodies either have life or don’t, and that is quite easy to discern, our spirits are counted either as alive or dead, but that is not so easy to discern. A body you can see; a spirit is immaterial and invisible.

Read the rest of the post here: I see dead people