Some time back, I was searching online and I came across a statement which read “James talks about Christian life 24X7.” I had read the book of James multiple times. But never did I think of it being so. So I thought I should dive deeper as living a Christian life 24X7 has its challenges and hurdles. But maybe this book would help me to achieve how God wants me to be. Hope you would come along in the journey to become an imitator of Christ.
Lets start reading James 1:1-8.
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:
Greetings.
Trials and Temptations
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
James, though brother of Jesus addresses himself as servant of The Lord Jesus Christ. Whenever we are in a position where the person in power is our close relative; don’t we think, act and show off like we own that position? But We see how James humbles himself to call himself as a servant of Jesus. Humility, irrespective of power. This book is addressed to the followers of Jesus who are scattered by all the different conquests of the emperors. He starts off with discussion about trials and temptations. I think most people of the time and even now think that, a life with Christ would be smooth with no trials and temptations. Neither Jesus nor James mentions that we are going to have a life free of trials and temptations. But they did tell us that we need to look at trials and temptations as to become more mature and complete. Why would trials and temptations make me a more mature and complete person? Well may be its like how a person in the armed forces keeps working on and challenging themselves with challenging courses and practices to improve themselves and make them more competent to handle a crisis or war. Maybe the trials and temptations will help us to be more prepared and ready for the will of God in our life. James then goes on to asking God for wisdom if we lack it. He also talks about asking it with unwavering faith. Why wisdom??. Wisdom is not about having knowledge. It is more about taking wise decisions in any circumstance or saying and doing the right things in any circumstance. Wisdom will help us to take right decisions in trials that we face and say the right things to the person who is facing trials. But when we ask God, we need to have faith that is unwavering and complete. For example, when we sit on a chair, we know that it will hold our weight and we will sit. If we don’t have faith enough, we will sit very tentatively. When we sit tentatively on the chair, we will be unstable and uncomfortable. Likewise, when we ask with unwavering faith God will give us wisdom to handle trials and challenges. Just gone through eight verses and a lot to learn..... will continue soon