James 1 (English Standard Version)

James 1

Greeting

¹ James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:

Greetings.

Testing of Your Faith

² Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ⁶But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

⁹Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, ¹⁰and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. ¹¹For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

¹² Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. ¹³Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. ¹⁴But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

¹⁶Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. ¹⁷ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. ¹⁸ Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

This is the second to last passage in BibleGateways article Top Five Passages From Our Top Ten Cities. I am breaking James 1 into two parts. James is so eloquent and has so much to say it needs to be digested slowly.

James start out by encouraging his audience. They have meet with hard times and James is encouraging them saying this is an opportunity for God to strengthen you. James then transitions into a related idea of ask God for wisdom. If I am in the midst of a hardship wouldn't it make sense to ask God for wisdom; however, the second part of the paragraph get me. The reason is I am a double minded woman with may doubts. I am constantly questions God's work in my life. Sometimes I am scared to ask for things because what if it is not in His plan to give me this and I will be disappointed again. But James reminds us that we have a God who gives generously. I am reminded of Solomon. A man who's heart was after the things of the world, but He had asked God for wisdom and God gave it to him. Cannot God do the same for me? And so James follows this with reminding us that man is like grass. We are very temporary. If we are so temporary, why do we not ask God for good things while we have the opportunity? James teaches us in the next paragraph that not only is God the giver of God things, but He does not give us bad things. God does not give us the temptations that come our way. We do. Our hearts have the sinful desires, not God's. God will give us a "crown of life" when we are done with this earth if we withstand temptation and rely on God during trials. If we follow our sinful desires and cut ourselves off from God, we will die. The things we desire to do are so toxic to us that we die. God brings us good things. God works in us and makes good thing of us. God puts His truth in us. We are to be like the first fruits of His creation. Sweet and pleasing because the winter has been long and the world has forgotten the taste of God.