GRINDIT podcast

A trickle a day won't grow a plant. It must be watered daily. Why do we think we can have a relationship with God with just a trickle here and there? We have to be in the word, praying, communicating with God every day, several times a day! What kind of relationship would yo have with your spouse or friend if there was barely any communication? Jesus desires to have an intimate relationship with us, to spend quality time with us and if we want to grow our faith, we must spend time with him, communicating regularly with him!

James tells his readers, "If you are wise and understand God's ways...prove it! We, as humans, have come a long way since the Tower of Babel. Not only did we try and build a tower to heaven, we have launch rockets into outer space! We are so wise and so smart...we even have "Smart" technology, but does this really make us wise? Do we really think we can understand God's ways? How can we find the wisdom James is speaking of, godly wisdom? How can we know God so we can also know His ways? We have to be in the word. It's all about a relationship with the risen Savior, spending time with him on a daily basis. We can actually be wise and know God's ways because He has revealed Himself in the flesh and dwelt among man....His name is Jesus. Get to know him!

James says, "If you are wise, prove it by living an honorable life and doing good works from humility." He is talking to believers who wanted to be teachers in the church but could not control their mouths. Why? Because they are allowing their flesh to control their actions; their hearts are full of jealousy and selfish ambition. James says godly wisdom is pure, peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. Which describes you? Are you controlled by the flesh or by the Spirit? What is coming from your heart? How do you know? Ask a friend, your spouse, a coworker...they'll tell you what is coming from your mouth because that is really your heart!

"If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." Wise words spoken by Thumper on the Bambi movie. Our tongue is so small, compared to the rest our body, it is tiny but oh how powerful it is! James says it's a fire that can spread like a wild fire and set a whole field on fire. Once words have been spoken, they are out there and can't be put back into our mouths. What are we speaking? James says we bless God and curse our fellow brothers and sisters with the same mouth! Listen quickly but be slow to speak. Think before you speak. Be positive, speak blessings, speak life, speak Jesus...

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me...this is one of the biggest lies we are ever told as a child because words DO hurt! In fact, they can hurt for a very long time! The tongue is such a small part of our body but it sure is powerful! Once words come out of our mouth, they can’t go back in! James compares our tongue with a fire and how powerful that fire is, how it can set a whole forest on fire! He says we curse people with the same mouth we bless the Lord with, and this shouldn’t be so! And what is really bad is...James is writing to those who follow Jesus and are filled with the Holy Spirit! Do our words tear down or build up? Do they speak life or death?

James tells us that we cannot have faith without works and he gives a couple of examples: Abraham and Rahab. Abraham was given promises from God and they didn’t happen until 25 years later when Isaac was born, then he was asked to sacrifice his son of promise! And Abraham never hesitated! He took Isaac up on the mountain and got to the point of raising the knife to kill Isaac but God intervened! Then he uses Rahab as an example of faith and actions. Rahab hid the spies when they came into Jericho but, in order to do so, she lied! Rahab is a prostitute, a liar, and she is in the genealogy of Jesus! We cannot, being filled with the Holy Spirit, sit idly by and not do anything for the kingdom of God and expect to make into heaven. Our faith has to produce actions and if not, then it is dead.

James seems to contradict Paul in James 2 when Paul says in many places “We are saved by grace through faith and not of works...” I hear people say something like this all the time, “You don’t have to do anything to be saved...” and I believe they get that from what Paul says but this is not a true statement. Salvation is a gift from God, Right? When we receive a gift from someone, we have to do something...we have to receive that gift! James says if we aren’t doing something with our faith, if that faith isn’t producing actions in us and through us, then our faith is dead and useless. We throw away useless things. We bury dead things. The love Jesus has for us should be enough to allow good deeds to flow from us naturally. Do people see your good deeds? Or do you need to be buried?

James doesn’t hold back when it comes to showing favoritism in the church, among the Lord’s body. He throws a punch to the face when he says, “There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others.” We have to show mercy to anybody and everybody because God has shown us mercy! The old saying, “Birds of a feather, flock together” may be true but it shouldn’t be true in the church! Cliques in the church goes way back to the early church in the book of Acts and the church at Corinth. They were slammed then, they are slammed now. Cliques, or showing favoritism, does not belong in the body of Christ and we are to show mercy to anyone that is washed in the blood of Christ, regardless of their bank account or social status!

James continues his talk with the rich and the poor in the body of Christ. He takes some shots at the rich people because they are showing favoritism towards their rich brethren and shunning the poor followers of Jesus who are right there in the room with them. He says we are to love one another like we love ourselves...sound familiar? James is basically reminding these Christians what his brother had said, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Then he reminds them of the mercy God has shown them and he tells them, “If you don’t show mercy toward your brethren, even the poor ones, God will not show you mercy.” Since we are saved by the grace and mercy of God, we better take heed to what he says! Go out and show mercy today!

How do we want to be known? People today are so angry and ready to fly off the handle at the drop of a hat, especially if they are involved with an organization with a bunch of letters in it. Think about it...most of thew time when they are shown on the news, what are they doing? Yelling...Why? Because they are angry! We see them going into stores and wreaking havoc, destroying everything and anything they can get their hands on...Why? Because they are angry! Do we want to be known as someone who stays angry and mad all the time or do we want to be known as loving, caring, compassionate, etc... If we want to reflect Jesus and be his hands and feet, then we have to be SLOW to anger, slow to speak...why? Because when we are angry, we say things we don’t mean and we tearing people down by our words. He says, “Be quick to listen...” What would happen if we opened our ears and kept our mouths shut?