How to Live as a Christian - PART 4

                      Hi all.....Its been a lil' long tym tat I came up with my continuation of previous post. Anyway, rather than blabbering,(:-)) I'll straightly go into the precious facts and messages conveyed in the fourth chapter of James. Here they come................

GIVE YOURSELVES TO GOD (James 4:1-10)

                                          Friends, have you ever wondered why we often go for fights or arguments with  others, be it with family, friends, colleagues or acquaintances...? Its b'coz of no other reason than our own selfish desires and needs that are lingering in our mind always. When we don't get the things we need, we go on arguing for it most of the times....isn't it right? We ask things to God and if we don't get them, then, undoubtedly the thing we asked is wrong or an undesirable one in the sight of God. Here, the Scripture says that, if you're being loyal to God, you'll hate the world in an attempt to become the friend of God. When yielding yourselves to the sinful and lustful and selfish desires of the world, you automatically become God's enemy and become a part of this sinful world. Verse 5 emphasizes on the fact that, the Spirit that God made to live in us wants us to live for Him alone (this can be taken with reference to Exodus 20:5).

                                     And verse 6 brings out the truth from Proverbs 3:34 which states that God also bestows his grace to the humble and not to the proud. So, the simple point is to completely commit ourselves into God's hands and stand against devil so that he'll run from you. When we seek His close relationship, He'll surely come to us. But on the contrary, its almost unfavorable to follow God as well as world at the same time in one hand. James, in verse 10, plainly declares that when we humble ourselves in God's presence, we'll be honored.

YOU ARE NOT THE JUDGE (James 4:11-12)

                               The couple of verses in this passage warns strongly not to judge others and their deeds or activities, because God is the only law-maker and judge and so its better to stop speaking ill of others, which we always commonly gossip and do interestingly. So, dear brothers and sisters, even though its a part of our human character, as true Christians, we ought to stop speaking bad against our neighbor. 

LET GOD PLAN YOUR LIFE (James 4:13-17)

                              Normally, in our everyday routine life, we plan different things pertaining to our personal family life, corporate life or in each and everything, we plan ahead of many things that we ought to do. This is not wrong, but the point to remember is to leave God to plan our life and to let Him have His way in our life, rather than relying on our self-strengths and abilities. After all, our life is like a mist, which is unsure of tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. (James 4:14). Hence, in the future, let us not brag about ourselves, and instead, say that, if God wants, we'll do this or that. (James 4:15)

Beloved in Christ, James Chapter 4 gives us guidance as to how to admit ourselves and our life completely into our Maker's hands and bring out the best in our life out of that. Additionally, James warns us about our peculiar human nature of speaking bad about others and judging them, which is a great sin in the eyes of God, who's only worthy of judging us. Well, with these things in mind, let us strive to lead our Christian life more worthy than ever. In my next post, I'll share the great things conveyed in James Chapter 5. Praise the Lord!

                                   

How to Live as a Christian - PART 3

                               Hi everybody, Well....Today again I've come up with the continuation post of the previous two posts of mine. We've been meditating on the book of James each chapter by chapter. And today I'm here to throw some of the seeds of the fruits given in James Chapter 3. I'll straightly go into our content of this chapter.

CONTROLLING THE THINGS WE SAY (James 3:1-12)

                                You know which is really the most dangerous risky part of our body? hands? feet? head? eyes????...... No, here in this passage, James clearly points out that its nothing but the 'Tongue'. The first verse itself starts with a warning to all those who are to become teachers that they should be even more careful and cautious than others since they and their actions and deeds would watched more by others and judged strictly. He emphasises this saying that they have to be more careful about their words that come out of their tongue. Here, he quotes the examples of horse and ship regarding the control of the tongue. Our tongue seems to be a small part of the body, but it has the capability to push us into destruction and spoil our entire life from being holy. The prophet James compares our tongue to the forest fire, which can spread to large areas and cause great devastating effects. He says that, we, humans can't able to tame our tongue since its wild and evil and full of deadly poison (James 3:8).
                               He brings out the reality of mankind so boldly that he says that we use the same tongue to praise and worship the God Almighty as well as to curse the people whom He Himself had created. Doesn't this seem so true and ironic? So, in the verses 10 to 12,he advises that this should never happen, relating this to different scenarios such as good and bad water coming from the same spring and the like.


TRUE WISDOM (James 3:13-18)

                                   This passage of Scripture makes us clear about true wisdom and understanding. The Word of God stress that true wisdom and understanding will be manifested by living right and doing good deeds with a gentleness that comes from wisdom. On the contrary, James speaks about jealousy and selfishness which are the two traits that lead to bragging about a lie hiding the truth. He undoubtedly tells that this kind of wisdom is not from God, but from the world; and it not spiritual, but devilish. Verses 17 and 18 gives us an exact answer about being truly wise, which states that being pure, gentle, peaceful , helpful, fair and honest and the outcomes of original wisdom from God.


So friends, the third chapter of James just teaches us two things : how we should be careful in using our tongue and being true wise with understanding, which guides us to leave a sin-free holy true Christian life. Let us all pray to our God Almighty for giving us the strength, patience and endurance for us to become like His only son Jesus Christ who was a worthy lamb, amidst this sorrowful and sinful world. In my next post, we'll have an outline of the fourth chapter. God Bless You!