Introduction
James, as I’m sure you have noticed, finishes his thought on one thing and then goes right to another. Next on James’ list is the evil of judging people based upon bias or prejudice.
There are reasons why we treat people different: a person in jail, disciplining children, knowing someone is in their final days, and so on. So, there are good reasons why people are treated differently. There are also bad reasons and that is the focus of our post. Read the rest of this entry »
Introduction
On Christmas Eve 2001, and continuing into Christmas day, I spent Christmas alone with my Grandpa. That’s right, just the two of us. My wife and children had gone to my in-laws home; my side of the family was gathering at my Uncle’s house. This Christmas it was just going to be me and grandpa.
Less than two months before my Grandma had passed away. She died in early November, one month short of their 74th wedding anniversary. It wasn’t a misprint, almost 74 years of marriage. As you might have guessed they started their marriage at a young age. After a long drawn out courtship, two months, they were married and began their life together.
The Setting
In the 1980s my Grandpa had major health issues that changed him. The damage sustained during these days quickly took away his ability to function independently and do the thing he loved the most, preaching the gospel message of Jesus Christ. Read the rest of this entry »
Introduction
Our next verse starts with the word “wherefore”. As you know that means the writer is concluding a thought so we need to look back at what has been said thus far so the concluding remarks make sense.
So what has been said? This is our 6th lesson and the repeating theme has been patience. We were first told to have patience during times of testing when God allows our path to get harder so we will learn to trust and depend on Him. James then reminds us that if we will ask for wisdom, to know how to live godly, God will answer that prayer. Next James tells us to be careful what we allow our minds to think about or dwell on. All evil starts in the mind; we must guard our thoughts. Finally, in our last post, we talked about times when Satan will tempt us to do evil. In all these things James says to have patience. Now James gives us practical ways to have patience. It is one thing to say “Be patient”, we all agree we need to do that, but it is more helpful to say “Be patient and here is how to do it.” Read the rest of this entry »
Servants' Journal 