Friday Faithfuls 2: James

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

A bit under the weather last week; I didn't manage to get the weekly post up. So I've had a bit of time to ponder which verse to use from James. And I keep coming back to the same bit.

So. Much. Instruction.

James is a book of living a practical life of faith. Not, as some might have it, a treatise on the necessity of doing good works in order to be accepted by God, but of the truth that living a life that expresses true faith will result in doing the right things.

So, here's what keeps catching my eye this go round:

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. -- James 1:26 - 27.

Two things there caught my eye...the first being 'Religious/ Religion', because that is not really something that the Bible talks about much.

In fact, that's the only occurrence of 'Religious' (Strong's G2357 - threskos : 'ceremonious in worship (as demonstrative), i.e. pious:—religious.') in the entire New Testament, and half of the occurrences of 'Religion' (Strong's G2356 - threskia: 'ceremonial observance:—religion, worshipping.'); the other two are Acts 26:5, in which Paul refers to the practices of his religion...i.e., Judaism...and Col. 2:18, in which Paul warns the readers of putting emphasis on worshipping angels.

So, we don't have a bountiful amount of data to go on here but it appears from what we do have that James is referring to the practice or demonstration of one's faith.

The other bit is 'he deceives himself'. Self deception is a recurring topic, as those of you who have followed along for a bit will recognize. I honestly think self-deception is one of the number one issues amongst folks, both believers and unbelievers. We all use self-deception as an avoidance technique to some degree; it is a major work to unmask and get rid of the lies we tell ourselves...but that is the beginning of real freedom.

So let's pick this apart a bit. In verse 26, we see that failing to control what we say will make the demonstration of our faith worthless. Folks, people are watching everyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus and when they see discrepancies it discredits the validity of faith to unbelievers. We tend to associate 'controlling one's tongue' with cursing, and that is one way that lack of control expresses itself, but I think there are some that are way more damaging...complaining, gossip, slander, coarse joking, lying, cattiness, etc...than blurting out a naughty word if you bash your thumb. Despite the little ditty that maintains 'words will never hurt me'...words cause wounds. Deep wounds.  And I will be the first to admit that there have been times when I spoke without thinking and hurt people. Apologies will only go so far; sometimes the wounds heal but they leave scars. It needs the ministry of the Spirit to truly and completely heal those places.

It doesn't matter at all how much outward expression of faith one has...if one continually fails to keep confidences, or always points out the negative in a situation, or has to top another's story, or makes jokes at someone else's expense, or never passes an opportunity to 'put someone in their place', or browbeats people who have different viewpoints, or routinely brings waitstaff to the point of tears with demands and complaints (It is a sad commentary that the 'Sunday after church crowd' is the most despised group amongst food services workers), et cetera, any pious behavior is completely without merit as a demonstration of faith.

I don't think anyone can read that without at least a twinge. I couldn't write it without remembering instances in which I failed. Mea culpa.

So...how do we behave? Two things.

First, we take care of widows and orphans. This ain't the job of the government, folks, it's the job of the church. If the church were doing her duty here the welfare load would be greatly reduced. Aiding widows was the FIRST benevolence activity recorded...and they weren't perfect at it even then. (See Acts 6:1-6). It's too easy now to shrug it off and say, like Ebenezer Scrooge, 'My taxes go to support [aid institutions]' without being personally involved.

Selah.

The other thing is a little more subjective: keep oneself from being polluted by the world. The ESV translates this as 'unstained by the world'; the Greek word there is aspilos (Strong's G784) ... which is actually a compound word; the negative participle a + spiloo (Strong's G4695, 'to stain or soil (literally or figuratively):—defile, spot'). Unstained. Unspotted. Undefiled.

So...how would the world (Greek kosmos: Strong's G2889, which has several meanings but the applicable one is 'the whole circle of earthy goods, endowments, riches, advantages, pleasures, etc, which, although hollow and frail and fleeting, stir desire, seduce from God and are obstacles to the cause of Christ') stain, spot, or defile a believer?

Influence, my friends. Influence. How much of our actions, thoughts and beliefs are influenced by social media, advertising, news stories presented with an agenda, etc.? If my beliefs and actions are at odds with Biblical standards...it ain't the Bible that's messed up. If I am pulling one or two verses out of context to support what I think or do, that's a pretty good indication that I have some pollution going on.

Pure and faultless are the adjectives we are looking for, not tolerant and compromised...in the sight of God, who knows everything...including where we have deceived ourselves.

Yeah. Selah.