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Christian Devotional – October 17, 2015
Read James chapter 2 VERSE: James 2:12–Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom. TRUTH: Earlier in the chapter, James explained that there is the law of love that we are to be following. Since we are all guilty of breaking the original law that god established (the 10 commandments), he explained that we are to be living under the law of love. Interestingly, the law of love encompasses all of the 10 commandments and so much more. If we are truly loving other people as God loves them, we will not allow them to stay in their sin and in…
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Christian Devotional – October 16, 2015
Read James chapter 2 VERSE: James 2:11–For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. TRUTH: As mentioned before, we must keep the whole law, not just a part of it. If we disobey even one part of if, we’ve become guilty of disobeying all of it. We must be sure that we understand the importance of all the Words that god has spoken. He didn’t speak some words with more importance than others; all of the words of God are important and are to be valued as such.…
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Christian Devotional – October 15, 2015
Read James chapter 2 VERSE: James 2:10–For whomever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. TRUTH: This verse goes directly against one very popular idea that many people have. Often, you will hear people talk about how they’re a pretty good person and they think they’ve done enough good things to get them to heaven. This verse indicates that it’s not about doing most things right, it’s about doing EVERYTHING right. If we stumble at just one spot; if we sin just one time, then we are guilty of breaking the entire law. We must realize that if we…
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Christian Devotional – October 14, 2015
Read James chapter 2 VERSE: James 2:9–But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. TRUTH: Showing favoritism and showing love can’t co-exist. You can’t be loving to people while you are favoring one above the other. Love, as Christ show it, is to be equally shared among all people, reminding everyone that we are all loved by God. As a result of His love, we can be made right and through His love, God shapes us to be more and more like Him every day. If we are not showing God’s love to others, we are guilty of breaking the law of love…
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Christian Devotional – October 13, 2015
Read James chapter 2 VERSE: James 2:8–If you really keep the royal law found in scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. TRUTH: Notice that they are not indicating that they need to keep the 10 commandments. Why? Because all of the 10 commandments are covered by loving like Christ loves. This is the royal law. This is how we are to conduct ourselves every single day. All of our actions and thoughts and everything should be able to be described as loving Christ. Do we show the love of Christ and keep the royal law to love others? RESPONSE: Father, I pray that You will help…
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Christian Devotional – October 12, 2015
Read James chapter 2 VERSE: James 2:6-7–But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong? TRUTH: Favoritism doesn’t work well for anyone. Here the believers were favoring the rich, but James reminds them that favoring the rich has really done anything for them. The rich still curse God, still drag the believers into court, and still work to exploit the believer. Their catering to the rich hasn’t done anything for them and as a result, they have…
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Christian Devotional – October 11, 2015
Read James chapter 2 VERSE: James 2:5–Listen, my dear brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? TRUTH: We do not see as God sees. When we look at situations and at people, we don’t see the same things that God sees. God, in His wisdom, has chosen those things that are poor, lowly, and seeming not much in the eyes of the world and has often allowed them to be beacons of faith, obedience, and love. Regardless of the material possessions that God has…
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Christian Devotional – October 10, 2015
Read James chapter 2 VERSE: James 2:2-4–Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? TRUTH: James gives an example of the truth of shared in yesterday’s verse. We are not to show favorites or discriminate among people. In this example, a rich looking man and a…
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Christian Devotional – October 9, 2015
Read James chapter 2 VERSE: James 2:1–My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. TRUTH: Do we value one type of person above another? Do we try to appeal to one type of person above another? Where favoritism comes into play is when we do this, but we do it with selfish or self-serving motives. In the verses that follow, the example is given of treating a rich man better than a poor man. The idea is that the rich man would then give more money, etc, so the church treats him better for the selfish purpose of gaining money. We see this…
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Christian Devotional – October 7, 2015
Read James chapter 1 VERSE: James 1:26–Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves and their religion is worthless. TRUTH: We’ve just been talking about deceiving ourselves by not doing what God’s Word says. This verse goes on to give a very specific example of how we can fail to do what God’s Word says. When it comes to the words that we say, often we can speak very thoughtlessly about people and things. If the words that come out of our mouths are not a reflection of the Words that are found in God’s Word, then we are deceiving…