James 4

Today's reading is James 4.  My commentary says this about this chapter:

Conflicts of faith

"Worldliness is putting physical pleasures and things before God.  It is harmful to faith, and it produces greed, envy, fighting, and pride.  The only thing that overcomes worldliness is submitting to God with a humble heart."

James 4

Submit Yourselves to God

 ¹ What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

 ⁴ You adulterous people,^[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us^[b]? ⁶ But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

   “God opposes the proud
   but shows favor to the humble.”^[c]

 ⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

 ¹¹ Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister^[d] or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹²There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

Boasting About Tomorrow

 ¹³ Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

I really like verses 13-17.  In verse 14 it says:

 "What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. "

That really makes me think.  It is true, our lives are so short. Now think about this.  Our lives are so short, but yet God cares enough about us that He sent His ONE and ONLY son, to die for nations of people whose lives are soooo short.  This is how much God loves us. And in John 3:16 notice what it says.

"For God so loved the World that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

God loves the WHOLE WORLD.  He loves me, you, your neighbor, your mom, your dad, your grandpa and grandma, your friend, your friend's neighbor, your friend's parents. . . I think you get the point :).  Many of you probably know these passages already, but its nice to be reminded that you are loved, itsn't it? :D

So, if you ever feel like no one in the whole world loves you, your wrong.  There's God, and His everlasting love is inexpressible.  

- Mallory