Theological Commentary: Click Here
The end of James
is filled with more verses of good advice.
There are two common themes running through this chapter, though. Everything in the chapter can be fitted
nicely into one of these categories: wrestling with our sinful nature and being
humble. Neither of those should be a surprise.
When it
comes to wrestling with our sinful nature, James is blunt. We still wrestle with our sinfulness because
we still pursue relationship with the world.
Why do people who proclaim to follow Jesus steal? The steal because their eyes are on the
world. Why do they cheat? They cheat because they have a worldly goal
in mind. Why do they lie? They lie because their eyes are on the world
and not the truth.
At the heart
of all of our sinfulness is the basic reality that every moment of sin for us
is evidence that a moment existed when we were not focused on God. That’s a scary accusation when you think
about it. If every moment of sin represents
a time when my mind was not focused on God, then I have had more than my fair
share of such moments. How gracious is
God that he continues to love me and desire relationship with me!
James also
speaks to us about how to wrestle against sin.
He wraps it up in the humbleness of the follower. He gives two grand solutions. First, we should be patient. When we are patient, we not only give God
time to bless us but we also give ourselves time to recognize if our hearts are
focuses on what He wants in the first place.
In other words, patience gives us time to analyze our hearts before we potentially
act out of our sinfulness!
The second
piece of advice James gives is for us to pray.
When we pray, we communicate with God.
When we pray – ad do it properly – we help keep our focus on what God wants
for us. Prayer helps remind us to be
humble and realize that we are not the center of life, God is.
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