If you’re not careful, you might come away from the Letter of James thinking it’s just a long, demanding list of rules. But it’s not. It’s a picture of how faith acts: what it looks like to trust the Lord.
And to better understand James’s teaching on faith, we need to hear what he says about the One in whom we trust. God is…
Sovereign over our trials—so we can rely on him and even take joy in the midst of hard times (1:2-4); The generous giver of wisdom to all who ask him for it in faith (1:5-8); Giver of every good and perfect gift (1:17), including life itself (4:15); The unchanging, ever-dependable, eternally-consistent Father (1:17); Revealer of truth by which we can be saved (1:18, 21); The loving Father to poor, weak, oppressed believers (1:27; 2:1-7); The just judge who holds all people accountable to obey his law (2:10); The merciful king who allows his grace to make a way to satisfy his justice so that we can be forgiven—gospel truth! (2:13); An awesome God who inspires life transformation—faith that works (2:14-26); The pure and holy Father who’s dishonored by sins of speech (3:1-12); The righteous and holy adversary of a world in rebellion (4:4); The foe of all who live by the principle of pride (4:6); A good God who invites us to come near to him (4:8, 10); The one lawgiver who’s able to save and to destroy (4:12); The wise orchestrator of his will as our tomorrows unfold (4:13-17); The Lord who will come again to gather all who patiently wait for him (5:7-8); The judge “standing at the doors” who will soon impose perfect justice (5:9); A merciful, compassionate Lord, even when we suffer like Job (5:11); The God who answers prayer, works miracles, and forgives sins (5:15-16); Revealer of truth by which we can be forgiven and saved (5:19-20)!
James issues a call to faith: LOOK UP, look away from yourself, and fix your eyes on the Lord. Because if you don’t, you’ll think this Letter is just a behavior code. And if you don’t, you’re going to imagine Christianity is a way to display your moral ability and take credit for it. And if you don’t, you’ll never understand the death-dealing sin that plagues us all, and you’ll never cherish the soul-saving grace of God that is the centerpiece of authentic Christianity!
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