Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“Your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not allow of favoritism.” —James 2:1 Many Christians do not show partiality, prejudice, or racism by their words. They know this is wrong; so they don’t do it. However, many Christians still show partiality in subtle ways. For example, many Christians choose to live apart from the poor. They may not have asked the Lord about their places of residence. They just assumed that the Lord wanted them to live in the so-called better neighborhoods if they could afford it or even if they couldn’t afford it. These decisions have many...

“Act on this word. If all you do is listen to it, you are deceiving yourselves.” —James 1:22 The writer of the book of James commands us to be “slow to speak” (Jas 1:19) and to bridle our tongues (Jas 1:26). Between these two references to speech, the writer commands us to be doers of the Word (Jas 1:22, RNAB). The writer may be implying that if we speak too much, we will do too little in living God’s Word. A “big mouth” often does little work. Those who talk too much don’t walk too much. Hot air may not...

“The tug and lure of his own passion tempt every man.” —James 1:14 Our desires are dangerous because they can conceive and bring forth sin (Jas 1:15). As sin grows, “it begets death” (Jas 1:15). We must control our desires, or we will live a living death (see 1 Jn 3:14). Naturally, our desires seek to be totalitarian dictators — to dictate every aspect of our lives. Only the Lord, Who created our desires, can redeem them and free us from their determination for dictatorship. The Father through the Son sends the Holy Spirit to strongly fight in opposition to...

“My brothers, count it pure joy when you are involved in every sort of trial.” —James 1:2 For about thirty years I have taught the Lord’s command to consider various trials “all joy.” Today I read this in my hospital room. I haven’t been allowed to eat or drink even water or ice chips for about a day. I’ve had an IV stuck in me for hours. And I have had four enemas. It has never been more clear to me that the command to consider trials “all joy” is truly a miracle. This command is not a burdensome challenge...

“Jeroboam thought to himself: ‘The kingdom will return to David’s house. If now this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, the hearts of this people will return to their master, Rehoboam, king of Judah.’ ” —1 Kings 12:26-27 Jeroboam realized that religion is part of human nature. Therefore, human beings must be religious. The only question is: “Will we be committed to the only true religion, Judaism fulfilled in the Church, or will we be involved in some of the many thousands of false religions?” Some think they have proven Jeroboam wrong:...