James 1: 1-8
(1) James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
This James was a brother of Jesus, but didn't believe in his big Brother until after Christ's resurrection.
When Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, the angel told her to tell His disciples to keep the appointment Jesus had made with them to meet in Galilee (Matthew 28: 7). Then when Jesus appeared to Mary, He told her to tell His brothers to make it to that meeting, too (Matthew 28: 10). That may be when His brothers realized that He really was who He always claimed to be, the Son of God, not just the aggravatingly goody-two-shoes big brother who never did anything wrong.
Now he considers himself a servant, the property of God the Father and God the Son.
To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
James became the leader of the church
in Jerusalem, where all the Christians were Jewish. So his concern was
for other Jews who lived in other parts of the world.
(2) Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
This sounds like the opposite of our natural response: to rejoice in trials? Crazy.
(3) knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
So, we are to look down the road at the result, not the immediate circumstance. To see trials as testings, to strengthen our faith muscle.
(4) And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
This perfect doesn't refer to flawlessness, but to be completely mature, not coming up short in anything.
(5) But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach and it will be given to him.
God wants us to realize we need His wisdom to deal with all the living we are to do to succeed, so we are to humbly ask Him, and He will generously grant it.
(6) But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
But we have to trust Him to believe He will give us what we need, and not let doubts cloud our faith.
(7) For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
(8) being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
The Lord always does according to our faith, as He said repeatedly while He was healing many before His death. When we say one thing but believe another thing, then we have no stability, and we are not reliable, we can't be depended on in anything.
This sounds serious. Someone who is unstable in all his ways will not be a success with anything he wants to do. We must make up our minds that our Lord is faithful and worthy of our trust. Then our emotions will catch up later.
O my Father, You are good, and You are good to us. You shower Your blessings upon all of us every day. Help us to recognize Your good gifts continually, so that our faith and trust in You will grow, seeing Your compassion and generosity.
Father, increase our faith, grow our trust, mold our characters into the virtues of our Lord. May we grow up into the maturity of the full stature of the Son of God, as His body and He the Head.
Send out Your children as messengers and preachers and missionaries into all the world to broadcast Your Word of the Gospel to every living being, so that Your house will be filled and no none will have any excuse.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, Son of the Father, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
