Come Near to God and He Will Come Near to You
James grew up with Jesus as his half-brother. Can you imagine?! I wonder what his life was like? Anyone with siblings can agree that rivalry is a thing. As a kid, wasn’t it great to have your brother or sister get in trouble with your parents? I suspect that James got frustrated when Jesus never did anything wrong (I bet he was loving when twelve-year-old-Jesus “got lost” in Jerusalem! Luke 2:41-52)
So James has an edge and it shows in his writings. He fires out verses that cut to the core, but we need that sometimes! I’m sure there are some who get offended at his straight talk but you know where you stand! Check out this chapter (James 4):
“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the Spirit that He has made to dwell in us”? But He gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” ~scripture from James 4
Father, let us take from James what you have meant for us to hear. Let us listen with humble hearts, knowing that these words are meant to make us better. Thank you for the different personalities that are evident in Your Word. Let us draw near to You” Amen
Have a blessed day!
Bonnie
Blessed Be Boutique
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