Wrong!
Part 4 | The Joy of James
Well, I cannot say this enough, but I just LOVE James!! LOL!
He is so practical, lays it straight out, breaks it all down and moves it so forward that, well, how could anyone NOT love this guy and his approach to life??!! And I guess it’s so cool because he keeps it so simple, and that simply works so well for a simple girl like me.
Like today in James Chapter 4. (Yup, you know the drill — go grab that BIBLE and rip through those 17 verses and then join me back here.) 🙂 It was so clear that as much as I may WANT to stay friends with the world and all the “fun” things they get to do, or that I “want to” do and seem “so good” to do, James is pretty clear on this point:
“Friends” with them?? Enemy of GOD (verse 4).
And now, let’s clarify that term FRIEND more fully. It is not that we don’t hang out or BE friendly with “worldly people,” but we don’t BE-friend the worldly WAYS they do.
And as easy as it is to say, this is way harder than it sounds. Because there are about 1,001 THINGS that abound and just call us to give them a try and a chance ‘cause “you’re not gonna die,” and my oh my, they look like so much fun! For everyone. And “everyone is already doing them” anyway. I mean, there really cannot BE a better way, especially in our day and age. Because we all know that the old dusty Bible and its “RIGID RULES” are really only meant for old dusty ladies, right??
WRONG!
Oh, I just love how this OLD BOOK has brought such a BOLD TRUTH in only a few verses. I DO need to choose what “news” I will listen to (verse 5). And if I really want “GOD to draw near to me” (which, by the way, I really live in a place where I really aim to DO that each and every day), then MY JOB is to DRAW NEAR TO HIM — FIRST (verse 8).
Yup, there is an action and an order and a motion to make closeness with GOD happen. And the first step clearly goes to?? ME.
And YOU.
Yes, when I find my life in a “MESS,” it’s time to assess what I am “CHOOSING” with my actions and “TRUSTING” with my head. Because, like verse 7 said, guarding my HEART involves a 2-step part that simply goes like this:
- Submit to GOD.
- Resist the DEVIL.
6 simple words … but JUST how the heck do we DO that?
Like really, how DO you “resist the DEVIL” in real life, right??
Well, I see James once again spells it out loud and clear in verse 8:
Step 1: Wash Your Hands, aka STOP doing the STUFF YOU KNOW you shouldn’t be doing. “Like, come on now, Carol, you know it is wrong, that it doesn’t belong, and so, time to LEARN TO let it go.” And then …
Step 2: Purify Your Hearts, aka no more double-mindedness. “Carol, you simply cannot follow two masters, stay lukewarm and keep one leg on each side of the ‘spiritual fence.’ And so, time to get out OLD beliefs and put in some powerful NEW.” And to actually DO that takes me (and YOU) 🙂 choosing to put some of HIS SOLID WORD in my soul, each and every day, and making THAT the KEY PRIORITY.
And as we choose to DO this, I really loved how JAMES was really clear about how this leaving behind our old ways will FEEL … at first (verse 9):
“Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter into mourning and joy into gloom.”
Yes, and this is so true in the people I see … and was in my world too.
‘Cause when I’m full into full-on letting go of the things I have fully believed for an “AWE-FULL” long time, I will HAVE a “grieving period,” no ifs, ands or buts about it.
James is clearly clearing away my EXPECTATION of a PAIN-FREE process. He straight-up says it will “suck” for a while, while my body (and way more importantly, my BRAIN) works on changing the base of what it believes. Shifting from what the world said was true (and that I REALLY thought so too!) to what GOD lovingly lays out and warns is WRONG.
So, just because it “sucks” in the short term, stick with it!!! Push through it!!! And HOLD FIRM to what HE SAYS. (Remember the HHH???) 🙂 This HUMBLING process is not FUN … at FIRST.
But I “pinkie promise” by the finish, and what this oh-so-wants-to-speed-through-life-kinda-lady like me had to learn about this oh-so-humbling process:
“HUMBLE yourself before the LORD and HE WILL lift you up” (verse 10).
Oh my! No more bending, no more compromising, no more “reasons and rationalizing” away my WRONGS. Nope, only a super solid, steady and STRONG decision to say, “One God — one way — my CHOICE — today.”
Time and time and time again, until? I really don’t even want to bend to old ways anymore. This GODLY PROCESS is true, and I can say it because it happened to me. And it could happen to you.
Would love to hear if YOU are ready to TRY to live your life this way, HIS way, over what the WORLD has to say.
Yup, maybe it is time to begin to build the BEST friendship you will ever experience, with the BEST THING you ever could, one that is consistent, caring and brings the deepest confidence. He will confidently be there for you — if you choose to step to him first.
Let me know what you think about what JAMES had to say. Can’t wait to read what comes my way!
Carol 😉
