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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Saturday, July 13, 2019
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:“Walking the Walk” Bible Verse :James 1:13-15, 19-23, 26 "Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. . . . This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. . . . If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. " Message:
It is that time of year, the time when people make New Years' Resolutions. Proverbial wisdom is that these are not worth very much, as they are kept for a few weeks or perhaps several months, and then the maker slowly slides back into old habits. Well, phooey! How are we supposed to improve ourselves if we don't even try?
There is a difficulty with the doctrine of justification by faith — the doctrine that we cannot be made righteous before God by our works, but must rely on God's grace, given solely by our faith in Christ. The problem is not that it isn't true, for one can reach no other conclusion after reading the Bible carefully. The problem is that we, being human, are apt to let an unwelcome visitor creep into our mind: That since our justification comes from faith, our actions are not critically important to our salvation.
Faith in Christ does not consist of kneeling or sitting and praying that you have faith, and perhaps recounting your sins and asking for forgiveness (or going to confession, if your denomination stresses sacramental absolution). The little short Epistle of James, tucked away behind the mass of Pauline epistles, gets so blunt on this point that it cannot be misunderstood, no matter how hard you try to ignore it:
“Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2:17)(NIV) “Faith that does not result in good deeds is not real faith.” (James 2:20)(Living Bible) “[F]aith without works is dead.” (James 2:26)(almost every Bible)
There is an unmistakable air of doubletalk here, for James (and others) appears to bring the Old Testament notion of justification by works into Christian theology, through a logical back door. Almost. There is a wide body of theological works on the subject, but that isn't our purpose here. Daily Prayer has an utterly simple hermeneuticalHermeneutics is the five-dollar word for the principles we use to interpret what the Bible says. approach, especially to the New Testament: Read what the Bible actually says. Believe it. Do it.
One thing that pops out at us, when we read James 1, is that he effectively calls anger “moral filth”. And for most people this would make a basis for a very very good New Year's resolution.
Are you angry about an obnoxious neighbor? Obamacare? Some irritating habit of your spouse? The Tea Party?
Whatever we find ourselves angry about, we need to take a step back and consider it against an honest reading of the gospels, asking: is this something (or the kind of thing) Jesus got angry about and spoke against? Because 99.9% of the time, the answer is “no”. The only time He actually became angry to the point of violence was with people seeking to make a profit from worship, i.e. the moneychangers in the temple. He did not even condemn sinners; in fact, he actually taught against those who did condemn them. E.g. John 9:1-11; Matthew 7:1-5.
The implications of James' and Christ's comments on anger go far beyond the space we have to discuss them here. But the teachings are so commonly ignored by professed Christians that learning and implementing what the New Testament teaches about anger would make an excellent New Year's resolution.
Meditation : Prayer : And now let me go forth praising you, O Lord, with all my heart, telling of all your wonders, with my words and in my actions. I will be glad and rejoice in you this day. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.........Amen |
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