Sunday, February 16, 2014
James 4
From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
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In verses 11 & 12, it continues the warnings about the dangers of our words from the last chapter. We are so blinded to our own sins, but the sins of others are so obvious to us. We could keep ourselves out of so much trouble by minding our own business. Even if our brother is wrong, it is the Spirit's job to convict of sin--not ours. It is not ours at all to speak evil of our brother. How can it help at all? Our tongues should not produce blessing and cursing.
ReplyDeleteVerses 13 - 17 are so important in the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. Any time we just go on and on with our plans without acknowledging that all must be done in his will, we are presuming upon God's plans for our lives. I love how the verse says, "Instead you ought to say, ' If the Lord wills,we will live and do this or that.' "
ReplyDeleteVerses 13 - 17 have been so convicting to me throughout the years. I know Christians who make a consistent habit of saying, "if the Lord wills," whenever they are talking about what could happen or their plans. I haven't gotten in that habit and even find it awkward to say. Each time I stumble over it, I am reminded of how I need to have these verses imprinted on my heart. The last verse especially echoes in my ears every time I am leaning toward being lazy. If I do not do that thing that is right, it's even a sin to think of good and not do it. God be merciful to us and use these verses to make us more like Christ.
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