Stepping in the Light

“For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.” James 3:2

James begins his discourse on the tongue with a surprising statement. After he points out that we are all guilty of a variety of offenses, he asserts that any person who could completely control his words would be able to “bridle the whole body.” In other words, anyone who can say the right words at the right time and avoid ever saying anything he or she should not say would be able conquer every other sinful habit and faithfully execute every Christian responsibility. So then, by process of elimination, James is pointing to our speech as the most difficult part of the Christian life. He is saying that keeping the tongue in check is more difficult than prayer, fasting, or Bible reading. It is more difficult than having great faith, developing a burden for souls, and sharing Christ with the lost. It is more difficult than faithfulness, tithing, and holy living. For most of us, this declaration is startling because controlling the tongue seems so easy. All you have to do is watch your mouth. What makes this challenge so difficult is that there are so many ways that we can misuse our speech. For some reason, we love to share bad news. We often like to spiritualize what we are doing by characterizing it as a prayer request. We can easily repeat something we have heard without knowing whether it is true. It is so easy; it happens so fast. We often don’t even notice what we have done, and the damage is often irreparable.

“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” James 2:26

Some Bible scholars point out what they see as a controversy between the writings of the Apostle Paul and those of the Apostle James. There are those who say that Paul believed we are saved by faith while others contend that James believed that we are saved by works. Paul wrote, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Our works cannot save us. In a seeming contrast, James tells us in chapter two of his epistle that faith without works is dead. So, many would conclude that James is saying that if you do not have works, you do not have faith. In spite of the tension between these ideas, no real contradiction exists. Each apostle is presenting the same truth from opposite sides in much the same way that two artists might paint a picture of the same mountain from different sides. Though the pictures would be of the same mountain, they may be very different. Paul is speaking of the cause of salvation; James is speaking of the evidence of salvation. James said, “Shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works” (James 2:18). Without good works, we appear to be unsaved. No one can see inside our hearts. If we want others to think that we are saved, there is no other way to show them except by our works. These scriptures raise the following questions: Am I saved? Do other people know it? And if not, what do I need to change?

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” James 1:5

This verse contains a promise, but it also gives us some insight into the nature of God and the character of man. The opening phrase, “If any of you lack wisdom,” shines the light on what we think of ourselves. Of course, all of us need more wisdom than we have, but are we willing to admit our deficiency? Those who refuse to recognize their need for wisdom are bound to continue in their current state of depravity. God is the source of wisdom. We are not capable of manufacturing it or conjuring it up on our own. Once we recognize our need, we are encouraged to ask God to give us wisdom. He gives wisdom to everyone who asks, and He gives it liberally. He wants to give us a lot. Next, it says that He “upbraideth not.” To upbraid means to scold, rebuke, or reprove. No matter how often we ask for wisdom, God never gets tired of hearing our request. This tells us that God wants us to ask for wisdom. He wants us to constantly remind Him that we are looking to Him as the source of everything that we need to know. This is in and of itself a form of worship. When we ask God for wisdom, we are telling Him that we believe Him to be wise. He wants to hear this from us and He wants to give us the wisdom that we need. Hence, the promise, “and it shall be given him.” Do you recognize your need for wisdom? Are you asking God for wisdom each day? He wants to hear and answer this prayer.

“By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” Hebrews 13:15

A 2007 study led by Dr. Matthias Mehl, a psychology professor at the University of Arizona, found that the average person speaks about 16,000 words per day. The study included 396 people, and the average number of words per day for each participant varied widely. The person who spoke the least averaged less than 1,000 words per day, and the one with the highest average words per day was nearly 47,000. What would you guess would be your average number of words spoken per day? If you were close to the average of 16,000 words per day recorded by those included in Dr. Mehl’s study, what percentage of those words would be spoken in prayer? How many words would be spoken in praise to God? How many words would be used to share the gospel with others? The passage above speaks of the sacrifice of praise, and it is defined as “the fruit of our lips giving thanks” to God. When it comes to our finances, God measures our sacrifice in percentages. He begins by telling us that the tithe, ten percent, belongs to Him. We may bring offerings above this percentage to show our gratitude for His goodness to us, but the tithe is the Lord’s. What if we gave ten percent of our words to God in praise? For the average person, that would be 1,600 words, which would take about fifteen minutes. Are you praising Him throughout the day? Try beginning and ending each day with praise.

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2

The Bible is filled with the stories of many people who endured great hardship, but nevertheless persevered through faith. The passage above evokes the picture of a stadium filled with spectators waiting for the runners to cross the finish line. Those in the stands have each finished their own individual races, and now they are watching us complete ours. This cloud of witnesses includes some amazing spiritual athletes, and their presence in the stands should motivate us to run our race to the best of our ability. Imagine yourself telling Abel that you could not get along with your siblings or Enoch that you did not have time to pray. Imagine telling Noah that you could not go to church because it was raining or Abraham that you did not feel that you could give your children to God. Imagine yourself telling Isaac that you could not trust the Lord for the right mate or Joseph that you could not resist temptation. Imagine telling Moses that you were tired of hearing people complain, or Joshua that you felt like you were just marching around in circles. God wants you to remember those who experienced victory through faith and be challenged to trust Him, too.

“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.” Ezekiel 3:17-19

The responsibility of the watchman is to warn the people he is commissioned to protect of eminent danger so that they will have the opportunity to avoid or defend the threat. Warning systems are necessary. If the bridge is out, you want someone to put up a barricade to keep you from driving over the edge. If you were suffering with a life-threatening disease, you would want the doctor to tell you about it so you could seek the proper treatment. If a hurricane or a tsunami were headed your way, you would want someone to notify you so you could make preparations and find shelter. God told Ezekiel that he was responsible to warn the people of Israel of the destruction that He was going to send their way. If he warned them, and they failed to change their ways, it was not Ezekiel’s fault; but if he failed to warn them, the Lord would hold him responsible for what happened to them. In much the same way, we are responsible to share the gospel with the lost. We need to realize that they are depending on us to tell them that Jesus saves!

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6

If we want to please God, there are some requirements that we must meet first. The passage above makes it clear that we cannot please God without faith. We must believe that He exists, and we must come to Him believing that He rewards those who diligently seek Him. Many who claim to be Christians say that they believe in God, but they do not take time to come to Him with their requests; “…ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:2). Most Christians who do not pray, don’t pray because they don’t really believe that God will answer their prayers. They do not believe that God would reward their faith if they took the time and effort to exercise their faith. They don’t pray because they don’t think it would make any difference. Some Christians fail to seek the Lord diligently. They do make some effort to pray. They do read their Bibles occasionally. They do go to church from time to time, as long as they don’t have anything else really important to do. But they don’t seem to have what it takes to seek the Lord diligently. In the scripture above, we can see that things begin to change in our lives when we come to the realization that God rewards those who diligently seek Him. God does want to answer our prayers. He does want to meet our needs. He does want to give us the strength that we need to serve Him. Do you believe that God wants to reward your faithfulness?

“How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!” Lamentations 1:1

Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet. He faithfully preached a message of warning to the people of Judah for many years, but they refused to repent and turn back to God. As a result of their disobedience, God gave them over to the Babylonians who came to Jerusalem three different times. Each time they came and fought against Jerusalem, they conquered the city. During the final battle, the Babylonians broke down the walls of Jerusalem and burned the city to the ground. The number of Israelites killed in those battles is not given, but there were 4,600 people who were taken into captivity (Jeremiah 52:30). Most of the people who remained in the city decided to flee to Egypt (Jeremiah 42-43). With the city completely devastated and nearly empty, Jeremiah sat down and wept. Jerusalem was his home. He had so many memories of family gatherings and yearly feasts when the streets were bustling with people and ringing with laughter. Jerusalem was the city of God. It was the city of the temple, the center of worship and praise. Jerusalem was lost because of disobedience to God and the failure to respond to repeated warnings from His prophets. Jeremiah wept because of the sin and rebellion of his people and because of the bitter price they paid as a result of their refusal to turn back to God.

“Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.” Jeremiah 50:34

Jeremiah spent most of his life preaching a message of chastisement, defeat, and destruction concerning the people of God. His message was unpopular, and he was persecuted because of the things that the Lord had directed him to do and say. Unfortunately for the Jewish people, Jeremiah’s prophecies of doom had been fulfilled, and God’s judgement upon His people had come to pass. Now their situation was completely hopeless, and no one would have believed that anything could ever be salvaged from what had once been a mighty and prosperous nation. Now that they were totally devastated, God gave Jeremiah a message of comfort for His people. Now Jeremiah was preaching God’s promise of redemption. This new message seemed as impossible as his earlier message was unpopular. After repeated conquests of their lands, the complete destruction of their cities, and the deportation and scattering abroad of nearly all of their people; the outside observer would conclude that no power on earth would be sufficient to return these people to their land and afford themselves national sovereignty. It certainly seemed completely impossible, but God sent Jeremiah to His people with this message and expected them to believe that it was true. God wanted them to exercise faith during their time of sorrow, defeat, and loss. He wanted them to trust their Redeemer.

“And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.” Hebrews 7:23-27

Down through the centuries, many priests were chosen from the tribe of Levi. Of those men, one high priest was chosen and that high priest generally held his office for the remainder of his lifetime. Each year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would first ceremonially cleanse himself and then make the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people. The high priest did this every year throughout his life. He always needed to cleanse himself before he could make the sacrifice for the people. When that priest died, another priest would be chosen to make the yearly sacrifice. As the sinless Son of God, Jesus Christ never needed cleansing for Himself, and He only needed to make one sacrifice. His death on the cross and His blood applied to the mercy seat in heaven was sufficient to cleanse the sins of every person who has ever lived and every person who ever will live. He will forever remain our High Priest!