Category: James

Take a moment to read James 2:8-13 before reading the devotional below. 

I sense a twinge of sarcasm in James’ tone as he leads this section of his letter. Kind of a backhanded compliment: “Yes, great job, love your neighbor, great command…” BUT. Don’t be so sure of yourselves just yet. Are you really loving your neighbor if you treat some people better than others? Aren’t you really thinking of yourself as better than others when you start comparing sins with other sins?

God is one God. His values don’t fluctuate. All of his laws carry equal weight. And James is giving a little reminder here that anyone who wants to stick with the old law system (and judge other people) better not forget all the sins they have committed. We are all equally guilty, let’s not forget that. And if you want to depend on your own actions, you better hope that your level of mercy to others is the kind of mercy you want to receive from God.

You are not better or worse than anyone else. This is a word for American Christians today, as we are often known for being judgmental instead of loving. We condemn groups of people who are already marginalized and treat some sins as worse than others. Our standards are off, and it’s not because of all we are tolerating. My standards must begin with a solid look in the mirror and plea for mercy in the morning. Jesus, help us all. You are our only hope.

“What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.”

What is the difference between saying you have faith and actually having a genuine faith? Let’s pause and think about what “faith” is for a minute: according to Hebrews 11, faith is the manifestation of hope. We know our hope is in the reality of Jesus as the living God who loves and saves us. So our faith is a tangible demonstration of possessing such a hope, and perhaps is even the vehicle through which we can connect emotionally with hope.

So if we have this incredible, supernatural hope that is manifested internally and externally via faith, why on earth would we waste our time living anything else? Faith isn’t meant to live in your head. Just like a really great idea, faith is only good when it births something real. A good idea that just stays inside your head is totally worthless. You have to carry that idea to fruition before it begins to actually benefit the world.

More than that, to be honest my heart is breaking today reading these verses. Here James is saying that if you see a brother or sister in need and you essentially say, “I’ll pray for you…” but give them nothing, what good is your faith? But much of the American church has so insulated itself that we do not even cross paths with those who are in need. When was the last time you actually had a relationship with a person who had no food or clothing? (They would be hungry and naked, so you’d probably notice.) When the church lives apart from the poor, it is no longer a church.

It’s one of the things I love about following Jesus. People who may not be held up as “great” by an American or earthly standard can (and often do) absolutely rock it with faith. Do you know who lives with the poor? The poor. And in my little corner of the world, I have never seen faith more lived out than among those who get the streets and have been down-and-out. They get it. They know how to live like Jesus without even realizing it. And the only way I can ever hope to make it spiritually is to spend as much time with these Jesus-mentors as I possibly can.

“Now someone may argue, ‘Some people have faith; others have good deeds.’ But I say, ‘How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.’ You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?”

James is just getting started on what is starting to sound a little like a rant as he calls his readers out on their understanding of faith. You can feel the fire under him, and ultimately this is the fire of the Holy Spirit speaking this message to His people. To me it feels akin to when Jesus turned over the tables in the Temple — God will not tolerate injustice in his kingdom.

We know that James is speaking about a justice issue here because of the verses we have been reading in the past few days. He started off talking about favoritism which led right into arguments about the very worth of Christian faith in the first place. If we are going to oppress people, why are we even claiming to have a faith in Jesus? You cannot follow Jesus and walk in the opposite direction at the same time. And no, it is not that some people are gifted in “faith” and others in “good deeds.” Loophole door slammed shut on that one. Demons have faith. Let that sink in.

The things that become core to your very existence are the things that make your faith in Jesus either real or useless. When we ask the Holy Spirit to cultivate Christ-likeness in us, we get a supernatural fire that we are seeing here in James himself. I have no doubt that he was living out his faith in some pretty dynamic ways. Not because of a legalistic system in which he was trying to check off his “good Christian” boxes. No, he couldn’t help himself. The Holy Spirit burns in you when you participate in this kind of faith, and when that fire is burning your life’s work will be Kingdom work.

Take a moment to read James 2:21-26 before reading the devotional below.

To illustrate his point about action being essential to faith, James offers a couple of examples that would be very familiar to a Jewish audience: Abraham and Rahab. (In case you are not familiar, the links on each name will take you to the stories referenced.)

Honestly, each of these stories represent how weird faith is. Unorthodox orthodoxy. In the first one, Abraham is seemingly told to participate in child sacrifice, something God was clearly against. His faith leads him to act on this, and God saves the child at the last minute. The second story has some pretty key leaders of God’s people staying overnight at the house of a prostitute who is then honored by God for lying when authorities come looking for them. American evangelicals (and perhaps other Christian groups) would never, ever say that these ideas were from God if he asked them to do the very same things today. So that makes me wonder, how much are we getting wrong about the way God thinks? (A lot.)

Sometimes, to do the right thing, you need to lie. Our brothers and sisters who were part of the Underground Railroad or those who protected Jews from the Nazis offer us tremendous examples of faith. Sometimes, to do the right thing, you have to trust that God’s character will not change when he asks you to do something that sounds off. God was testing Abraham, and his faith that God would come through enabled him to follow. Challenge your assumptions, biases, and sensibilities today. God might just ask you to break them all for the sake of his Kingdom.

“Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.”

It is fascinating to me that right after James goes off on a faith-rant, he transitions into a discussion on how complicated it is to be a teacher. As a form of non-apology for his earlier statements, he is letting people know of the risk he is taking in being willing to teach. He’s acknowledging that even teachers make mistakes, and he is publicly accepting any negative consequence that could come were he to be wrong in the things he is saying.

Even teachers say too much. Teachers risk greater levels of scrutiny because their mistakes are public, but really we are all in the same boat. I hate walking away from a situation knowing that I spoke in ways I did not intend. Our ideal statements are hardly ever the same as what actually comes out of our mouths.

James’ point here is not to shame his readers or even to tell them to strive for perfection. The key word is “if.” IF we could control our tongues, we’d have it all figured out. But since we all know that is never going to be possible for us in our human frailty and sinful state, we can come to an acceptance that “we all make many mistakes.” If you are facing regret or shame about mistakes you have made, especially when you have said things you wish you could take back, sit in solidarity with all of humanity. We all have been there. In fact, we are all there now. It’s why we so desperately need God’s grace, which is available to us in the moment that we humbly say, “I’m sorry. I was wrong.”