Final Exhortations from James
(written July 15th by Bryan Roe)
Today we come to our final devotional from the book of James. This short and wonderful book is full of practical help as we seek to live out our faith as Christians. For example, we are not to show partiality. We are to be patient. We are not to speak evil of one another. We are not to grumble. As we conclude this book, James gives us three more commands, while also reminding us of why we are to keep these commands: to point others to God.
Read James 5:12-20
After reading this passage, I encourage you to first spend time reflecting on and answering these four questions:
1) What does this passage teach me about God and what He cares about?
2) What does this passage teach me about myself?
3) How does this passage show me my need for Jesus?
4) What is this passage telling me to do or believe? Why?
A few thoughts
To start this passage James writes, “But above all, my brothers, do not swear…” This command might appear to be out of place, but I believe it is a call to further reflect who our God is. Whenever you see a command in Scripture, ask yourself what it would communicate about God if you were to disobey it. If we lie, we are misrepresenting God. As Christians we are to make God known; a God who is “the truth” (John 14:6). We also read in Numbers 23:19, "God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?" Made in God’s image, we are to pursue honesty and integrity. If you make a truth claim, make sure it is true. Don’t lie or stretch the truth for your own gain, which reeks of self-centeredness. If we fall into this, we fall under condemnation (v. 12). Finally, remember when James taught us to say “Lord willing” (James 4:15). We do not know what the future holds. When talking about the future, unless Scripture says so clearly, we need to be careful to speak in a way that honors God. We can say for sure that Jesus will be King forever, and that one day He is going to return. What we should not say though is that Jesus is going to come back tomorrow. Lord willing He will! As James says, let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no. In doing so we reflect the character of God and demonstrate our trust in Him rather than ourselves.
Shifting gears, James then moves on to talk about prayer. Does God want us to pray? Absolutely. Although God knows all things, including the future, He still desires to hear and answer our prayers. We we ought to pray to God for healing because we know that He is all-powerful. We ought to pray for grace because we know that He is forgiving. If we confess our sin in prayer, the Bible tells us He will forgive us (v. 16; 1 John 1:9). When it says that there is great power in a righteous person’s prayers, remember that our righteousness comes not from ourselves but from Christ. At the end of a long day full of missteps we don’t have to worry that God is not going to hear us if we are humble and repentant before God. This should give us confidence to approach God more and more in prayer. In fact, our lack of prayer might reveal how little or much we are trusting in Him. If our prayer life is closer to non-existent, we need to examine ourselves and see if we are trusting in Him at all, or if we are putting confidence in ourselves. If we are truly trusting in Him it will be evident in our truthfulness and prayer life.
Finally, James closes his book with the encouragement to help our brothers and sisters remain in the truth. We are all prone to wander at times. We all make mistakes. Sometimes it gets to the point where we need someone to come and lovingly correct us and encourage us to turn back to God. True love looks like helping others know God’s love. If we fail to correct others when necessary we are failing to love them. Helping others in this way may just be what God uses to lead them to Jesus, thus saving them from condemnation and an eternity apart from Christ. Let’s be those who stand firm on God’s truth. Let's also be loving in how we call others to respond to God’s truth. Our mission as Christians is to help others know there is forgiveness and eternal life available to us in Jesus. So my question for you is, are you invested in others' spiritual life? We all need to have Christian friendships where we hold each other accountable.
James is a book that many people return to over and over again. It is an encouragement to those who are experiencing trials. It is also a challenging book that causes us to look inward and see if we are truly living for God. James calls us to be people who demonstrate our faith in our good works. This side of Heaven we are not going to be perfect people, but we are going to be people God is perfecting. As we fix our eyes on the God who is true, the God who hears our prayers, and the God who is forgiving, we will be transformed to reflect who He is. He is the One who endured the most intense suffering anyone has ever experienced on the cross so that you and I could be forgiven and made new. He did this for the joy set before Him. Like Jesus, let us remember the great joy that is found in Him and go and live for His glory and our good. Remember how James began this book: "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials fo various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1:2-4).