If someone were to ask me my favorite passage of Scripture I would quickly say James 1:22 “do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves, do what it says.” How wonderfully simple, to the point, and practical is that…like most of the book of James.
There are few other favorite convicting verses of mine from this section. See if they convict you in the same way they do me:
-1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds… If I want to be stronger and better, I have to go through trials. I’ve noticed that often when people come from difficult backgrounds they often have a strength of character that others can only admire. My mom is one of these people. She has continually risen above tough circumstances to become one of the strongest people I know. Consider the equation: trial of faith = perseverance = maturity.
-1:19 everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. If only I could get past the quick to listen, then I’ll start to work on slow to speak and slow to become angry. I think I could spend my entire life on that one verse. You know the people that don’t shoot off their mouth or say immature things, those are the people everyone else wants to listen to.
-1:22ff That whole mirror imagery is cool to me. Do I look into the Bible, the mirror, and see a reflection of myself? I wish.
-2:1 don’t show favoritism. How often I cling to that which is familiar, or like me, or safe and comfortable. How much God calls us to love the outcast, the poor, the weak.
-2:13 mercy triumphs over judgment. When it is all said and done, I am failing a lot. Which is why I’m so thankful for verse like this that remind me that God is just as strong in His mercy as He is in His judgment of us.
One of the main points of this e100 HAS to be that we don’t merely listen to the Word, but that we do what it says. How will you put into play something that you are reading/learning/experiencing about God this week?
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