# 27 2020 Dev. James 1:22. Good Works! Read all of Ch.1:13-27. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.
James 1: 22 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says!”
James is all about doing and at first glance he appears to be at odds with Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. Certainly, Martin Luther thought so, James was the last book he translated into German, he called it “a book of straw”. James and Paul back up to the same value; gratitude for God’s Salvation in Jesus Christ.
James uses the metaphors that Jesus would use; temptation is “conceived” within by our “own evil desires” giving “birth to sin” and leads to death. Temptation is not the sin but allowing it to linger in our mind leads to sin, and sin not confessed and un-repented leads to spiritual death and contributes to physical death. “God chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”
James goes on, “take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, accept the word that is planted in you”. We all know how quickly we forget most messages we hear from God’s Word. One of the reasons for these devotionals is to apply God’s truth to our daily living. Further, as is pointed out in this passage (vs.22-25), if you meditate on God’s Word and practice it, not only will we not forget but we “will be blessed in what we do”. Faith is a gift, grace is a gift, salvation is a gift, God’s Word is gift and James encourages us to practice what we believe.
If we really want to be thankful for God’s gifts to us James points us into the direction of missions, here at home and around the world; “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world”.
James is talking about the poor, the disenfranchised, injustice, children, born and unborn, the lost and being politically correct: the pollution of the world. All the attitudes and actions that Jesus spoke against while he was on earth. Now from heaven He still opposes those attitudes and actions in people and nations but draws near the persecuted, the disenfranchised, the poor and the unborn. Jesus is humble, compassionate, forgiving, and He loves with no limit. Praise be to God!
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