Monthly Archives: September 2015

Who has our Best Interest in Mind: the Devil or the Lord?

Reading for Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost: James 4:1-17

Peace be with you!

The devil and the Lord have been at odds with each other shortly after the beginning of time when the devil fell from God’s graces.[i] Unfortunately we get caught up in the middle of their battle. The devil wants us to fulfill our desires by living according to our own plans, while the Lord wants us to live according to his plans in order to be in a relationship with him and to receive his forgiveness, grace, and love. Both the devil and the Lord want what they think is best for us, but the devil has evil motives and does not have our best interests at heart.

The devil stirs up the conflicts and disputes that we then fuel among ourselves. When we want what is not ours to have, the devil tempts us with actions that go against God’s wishes, like committing murder and causing conflicts (James 4:2). We may be tempted to ask God for [whatever “it” is] that we do not really need, but it only satisfies a desire of the moment. Or we may be tempted to take what we have no rights to, because again it satisfies a desire of the moment (James 4:3). The devil does not care that fulfilling these desires will wrongfully ultimately cause more pain and suffering. The devil asks, “Why do you want pain and suffering now when you can be rich and happy instead? It makes no sense, right? If you can satisfy your desires in the here and now, why shouldn’t you take the opportunity? Why should you care about the welfare of others? Do others care about you?” The devil is only concerned about the here and now and providing a way for us to obtain our present desires, even if it comes at the expense of others. If we go after our desires for the wrong reasons, we are giving into the ways (envy, jealously, murder, fighting, and war) of the devil.[ii]

However, satisfying the desires of the moment does not satisfy our desire to be in a relationship with the Triune God, to know the love of Jesus Christ, and to have eternal life in order to enter the Kingdom of God. God answers, “It is not about you as individuals getting what you want in the moment. It is not about what others can do for you. It is about living in community and taking care of one another. It is about a bigger plan that I will fulfill in time with your help, but you have to be patient and put your trust in me.”

God wants us to allow his Spirit to dwell within us (James 4:5b). God’s presence is all around us; he goes wherever we go; he feels our pain, fear, sadness, joy, happiness, and contentment. By always being present, God shares his wisdom and understanding with us regarding his plan for us. If we allow God’s Spirit to lead us, we will see our riches in heaven when we come to understand his prefect plan.

God asks us to resist the devil (James 4:7) by washing our hands and purifying our hearts (James 4:8b). When we remorseful and repent our sins (James 4:9a), we can draw God close to us and he can draw us close to him (James 4:8a), which is how he shares his wisdom with us. Therefore, God asks us to speak with love, not hate, by not judging one another one or enforcing the law according to our ways of thinking (James 4:11). There can only be one Judge: God who is the only one with the authority to “save and destroy” by carrying out the sanctions of the divine law.[iii] God alone is the judge. Our job is to love and care for one another.

Furthermore, James says, “Stop leading double lives, and starting living for God—the one who created you and has the power to forgive when you humbly repent. Give your life back to him. God is a gracious God who offers his love, mercy, and grace. God will provide you with what you need as long as you live for him—and only him.”

It is a message of grace in the face of fear, of love in the face of hate, of joy in the face of pain, and of forgiveness and mercy in the face of confusion. God sends us to the places and people who need us the most. Sometimes God gives us a job description, but most of the time we just have to trust God will reveal his plan over time. Even if we do not understand where we are heading or why we must go to places we have never been to before, we can go in confidence that God will always be with us.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for calling upon us to do your work in the world. Help us to only want what you deem we need. Lead us to the places where we are needed the most. Remind us it is your will, not our will, to be done. Forgive us when we get sidetracked, and redeem us as your children. Thank you for always being with us. Amen.

[i] God created the devil as an angel who fall from God’s grace and fell to earth as a subordinate to God.

[ii] Dan G. McCartney, James, vol. of Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, eds. Robert W. Yarbrough and Robert H. Stein (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009), 208-209.

[iii] Ibid., 221.

Words can Hurt

Reading for Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost: James 3:1-18

Peace be with you!

You have probably heard the quote: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”[i] We might claim this is true, but James understood the true effect words can have on their audience. Words can be a blessing or a curse. Individuals who have been mentally abused often battle depression and low self-esteem, because someone said they were not good enough. A positive role model can lift people up and lead them to have great success, because someone saw something in them and gave them the courage to achieve their dreams.

James says, “So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. … With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so” (James 3:5a, 9-10 NRSV).

The way you speak to others says a lot about who you are as a person and as a Christian. If you have negative views about yourself and/or the world, you will complain and bring others down with you. Someone who mentally abuse others are depressed and have low self-esteem of their own, and they need to feel like they have power someone or something. As an individual who was mentally abused, I know how helpless you feel when you under someone’s thumb and how exploitative the person who mentally abuses another person can be. The person who is mentally abusive will use their words to be in control of someone. This is one example of what James means when he says, “the tongue is a fire” (James 3:6a NRSV). Words can tear people down and make them feel unworthy of forgiveness, grace, and love. They can lead people astray from what is most important—God and his love for them.

With cyberbullying on the rise, we have begun to understand the effect words have on individuals—and words do hurt. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics in their 2007 “Indicators of School Crime and Safety Report,” 28% of youth between twelve and eighteen report being bullied in the last six months at their school, with about one-fifth of the 28% reporting that the bullying occurred once or twice a week.[ii] A study done by Yale University reported 7% to 9% of the individuals who are bullied are more likely to think about suicide. About 69% of teenagers have regular access to their own computer and cell phone and use social media, and 42% of these teenagers reported being cyberbullied.[iii] Words have just as much effect as being physically attacked.

Bullying and cyberbullying can even lead individuals who have been bullied to kill themselves—to end the very life God gave them. James warns us against speaking out of envy and selfish ambition by being boastful or lying, because it results in disorder and wickedness, which are the work of the devil (James 3:14-16). James appeals to us to speak with wisdom and mercy (James 3:17).

Like a horse with a bridle, you can control what you say and do (James 3:2-3). A handler can control the whole body of a horse with a bridle. What you say controls what the rest of your body says. If you speak words of anger, you may yell, turn red in the face, and stomp off. If you speak happy words, you may shout with joy, be giggly, and jump up and down. When we control our words, we speak with wisdom and love, which yields mercy and good fruits without partiality and hypocrisy (James 3:17).

In his interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on September 14, 2015 (minute 15:28), Vice President Joe Biden said, “My mom always said, ‘Remember no one is better than you, and you are better than no one. Remember everyone is equal.’” When we speak with wisdom, we are forced to treat everyone with love and as an equal, because Jesus commands us to love our God with our whole being and to love our neighbors as ourselves. By doing this, we bring heaven into the world. God’s grace and love can then spread in the world, and our words become a blessing to whoever hears them.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for giving us your wisdom. Help us to speak with wisdom and love to bring heaven to earth. Lead us to be your disciples and to do your will in the world. Thank you for giving us your love and grace. Amen.

 

[i] The earliest citation was in The Christian Recorder in March of 1862, though it was coined before that according to The Phrase Finder.

[ii] Sameer Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin, “Bullying, Cyberbullying, and Suicide,” Suicide Research: Official Journal of the International Academy for Suicide Research 14 (July 2010): 206-221, http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Justin_Patchin/publication/45289246_Bullying_cyberbullying_and_suicide/links/55098f1f0cf26ff55f85eaa2.pdf.

[iii] “Bullying Suicide Statistics,” http://nobullying.com/bullying-suicide-statistics/.

Challenge: Living Out your Faith through your Actions

Reading for Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost: James 2:1-17

Peace be with you!

Photo Credit: Amber Sue Photography, www.ambersuephotography.com

Photo Credit: Amber Sue Photography, www.ambersuephotography.com

Think of all of your friends—the people who you associate yourself with on a regular basis. Are your friends your colleagues who you grab a beer after work with? Are your friends the same race and/or in the same social class? Do you share a similar life experience, such as a specific disability or a tragedy? Do you share the same belief system with your friends? Do your friends dress and act like you? Who you include in your network says a lot about you as a person and as a Christian according to James.

Everyone has a few people they connect with and share their every move with. The titles of these individuals vary: best friends, favorite people, “besties,” sisters and brothers, and husband and wife. You call them when something exciting happens as well as when something upsetting happens. As a group, you act like a gatekeeper by deciding who will be included in your group. If someone dresses, acts, or talks differently than the your group they are not allowed into the inner circle. As a group, you judge others for not being like you.

On the other hand, people are attracted to others who appear similar to them. A few days ago I was leaving a restaurant when an older lady asked my personal caregiver if we were associated with Crest, a local school for kids with cognitive disabilities and behavioral issues. She went on to say her nine-year-old grandson goes there, and her daughter is very involved in the fundraising. My personal caregiver said no as we continued getting into my car. The old lady saw me as someone who had similar movements and speech patterns as her grandson and assumed I must have the same disability.

As a society, we judge others by their appearance—by how they groom and dress themselves before we even meet them. Based on their appearance, we decide if we will approach them or how close we will allow them to get. We stick up our noses at individuals who dress, act, and talk differently than us.

One day I was in the mall’s parking lot with a friend when I asked, “Why are they doing [whatever “it” was we disapproved of]?” My friend quickly answered, “They are not us,” as we drove away.

This interaction with my friend demonstrates society’s us-versus-them mentality. We continually judge people based on how they appear to be similar to or different from us.

James writes, “Stop it. Stop choosing favorites. Stop favoring one group of people over another. When Jesus said, ‘love your neighbor,’ he did not say you could pick and choose your neighbors. Jesus just said, ‘love your neighbor.’ So when you favor one group over another, you dishonor the other group and God” (see James 2:1-8).

James is not saying we have to be best friends with everyone we meet. However, we need to have respect and honor for everyone we come into contact with. We need to care about those less fortunate than us just as much as we care about those who are just like us, because even they are equal in God’s eyes. No one should be put in a corner, because they are different. As Christians, we are called to share God’s forgiveness, grace, and love with everyone we meet, not just a select few.

James goes on to write, “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:12-13 NRSV). We must show mercy to those who sin against us in order to receive mercy ourselves from God the Father. We are not without sin; therefore, we have no right to judge or to pick favorites. Dan G. McCartney writes, “Since both justice and mercy are traits of God, the one who has faith in Jesus (2:1) must also evince both justice (by showing no favoritism) and mercy (by refraining from judgment [4:11-12], by restoring a wandering [5:19-20], and by providing for the needy [1:26-27]).”[i] Therefore, we are called to fight for justice by not judging each other and by treating each other as equals.

With that said, James challenges us to live out our faith through our actions and not just with our words. James explains you would not tell the hungry to go have a nice meal without first making sure they had access to food (2:15-16), because faith without works is dead (2:17). James is not contradicting Paul by saying we have to do works to enter the Kingdom of God, but rather he is saying that our faith should be the reason we do good works. Instead of relating to those who appear to be similar to us, James challenges us to relate to those who appear to be different than us and to have a conversation—to find what struggles they face and how we can work together.

God’s love shows no partiality or favoritism. God’s love is for everyone, not a select few. Therefore, God calls us to go out and share the good news with anyone who will listen, even those different from us, because the Kingdom of God is for everyone.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for forgiving us and showing us mercy when we fall. Help us to have open conversation with each other, even those different from us. Create ways for social justice to be possible in the world. Lead us to love our neighbor as you love us. Give us mercy when we fall and forgiveness when we stand and repent. Thank you for having no favorites but for loving us all as we are. Amen.

 

[i] Dan G. McCartney, James, vol. of Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, eds. Robert W. Yarbrough and Robert H. Stein (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009), 151.