Sometimes suffering is a result of our decisions, sometimes it is the result of the decisions of others, and sometimes it can’t be explained. While the first two are easier to understand, the third one can be very challenging and difficult to deal with.
As we consider James 5:7-20 this week in our classes, I believe there are several lessons we can learn. The first is that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. I do not subscribe to the idea that God makes things happen so we can learn. However, I do believe that because of freewill, God allows things to happen. When they do, God can use them in several ways.
First of all, while God doesn’t will that things happen for us to learn, I believe he can use things that happen for us to learn his will. I once heard it said that the will of God is not what happens to us, it’s how we react to what happens to us. Difficult times will often force us to reconsider our priorities and change our behaviors.
In addition, God can use suffering to draw us closer together. When someone mourns, we mourn with them. When someone struggles, we help them with their burden. When someone hurts, we help bandage them up. Community is often strengthened through difficult times.
I remember watching the news coverage on September 11, 2001. On that day, as our nation suffered on the world stage, the members of Congress gathered together as a sign of unity. Democrats and Republicans stood together and sang together, putting aside their differences.
Maybe one of the reasons the Western church has lost its fire is because we don’t have to suffer much. I don’t mean that we don’t all have times of suffering. Loved ones die. Friends get sick. People lose jobs.
Rather, I mean that we don’t suffer much for our faith. While I believe it’s questionable if we live in a “Christian nation,” I also believe that we have it pretty easy. There is currently an Amercian pastor in Iran who may be executed simply for converting to Christianty and refusing to renounce his faith.
How would most Christians in America react if they were given a choice to renounce their faith or face execution? Many of us, if we’re honest, often renounce it a little bit at a time for significantly smaller reasons.
Let me finish by sharing James’ closing words in his letter…
My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins. (James 5:19-20)
shine!
Jason
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Blessed to be a blessing
This week in our student classes we encountered one of the most confrontational parts of James letter. He “gets in the face” of the rich and challenges them about the ways in which they use and abuse their riches.
Most of us would not consider ourselves rich. I mean, think about it, we don’t live in mansions. We don’t drive $100,000 sports cars. Rich people are people like Bill Gates and Mike Ilitch.
But think about this…
According to a recent statistic, more than 80% of the world’s population lives on less than $10 per day, or $3,650 per year. While we may not see ourselves as rich, I am sure that almost all of us live on more than $3,650 per year. That means we are richer than at least 80% of the world.
I think that James words speak directly to us and challenges us to consider our stewardship. While there are hundreds of ways we can help those who struggle to survive every day, I want to suggest one.
World Vision is an organization we have worked with for several years through our 30 Hour Famine. They also offer opportunities to adopt children and make a different in the lives of those who are not as blessed as we are. Here is some information from their website about sponsoring a child:
Child Sponsorship is an opportunity to personally connect with a child and walk alongside their family and community as they work on lasting solutions to the causes that keep vulnerable children from reaching their God-given potential.
When you become a child sponsor, you will be connected to one special child who will correspond with you, including sending a letter to introduce themselves. We encourage you to continue this relationship and get to know your sponsored child better by writing letters or sending cards. It is very exciting for a child to receive a letter from their sponsor knowing that someone far away cares about them and their future.
Your sponsorship donations will help build a stronger community and give children and their families access to programs that will provide greater opportunities. For just $35 a month, you will help your sponsored child and children in their community enjoy good health, be educated, cared for, protected, and participating in making their community a better place to live—and to love God and their neighbors.
The well-being of children is the focus of all the work World Vision does. Your donations, and the donations of other sponsors like you, work together within the community to address the needs and conditions of children and families and have maximum impact in the lives of children, families, and communities.
We help to change a child’s life by changing the world in which they live. The well-being of your sponsored child is tied to the well-being of their family and community. We work with the whole community to address issues that are important to them so they can better care for their children. The best solution to poverty, one that will last, is not about giving people handouts or doing the work for them. It is about working alongside them to build a better community. We work with many people that contribute to the well-being of a child, including their families, organizations, groups, churches within their community, and their government.
Each community that we work with faces different challenges and has different needs. Therefore, the way that we do our work is unique to each community. World Vision listens to the people in a community to understand what hinders their children from reaching their full potential. We then help to improve the lives of children by working with their community to address the needs they have identified.
As you consider the words of James 5:1-6 this week, consider whether sponsoring a child might be a way for your family to be a blessing to a child (and his or her family) living in poverty.
shine!
Jason
Most of us would not consider ourselves rich. I mean, think about it, we don’t live in mansions. We don’t drive $100,000 sports cars. Rich people are people like Bill Gates and Mike Ilitch.
But think about this…
According to a recent statistic, more than 80% of the world’s population lives on less than $10 per day, or $3,650 per year. While we may not see ourselves as rich, I am sure that almost all of us live on more than $3,650 per year. That means we are richer than at least 80% of the world.
I think that James words speak directly to us and challenges us to consider our stewardship. While there are hundreds of ways we can help those who struggle to survive every day, I want to suggest one.
World Vision is an organization we have worked with for several years through our 30 Hour Famine. They also offer opportunities to adopt children and make a different in the lives of those who are not as blessed as we are. Here is some information from their website about sponsoring a child:
Child Sponsorship is an opportunity to personally connect with a child and walk alongside their family and community as they work on lasting solutions to the causes that keep vulnerable children from reaching their God-given potential.
When you become a child sponsor, you will be connected to one special child who will correspond with you, including sending a letter to introduce themselves. We encourage you to continue this relationship and get to know your sponsored child better by writing letters or sending cards. It is very exciting for a child to receive a letter from their sponsor knowing that someone far away cares about them and their future.
Your sponsorship donations will help build a stronger community and give children and their families access to programs that will provide greater opportunities. For just $35 a month, you will help your sponsored child and children in their community enjoy good health, be educated, cared for, protected, and participating in making their community a better place to live—and to love God and their neighbors.
The well-being of children is the focus of all the work World Vision does. Your donations, and the donations of other sponsors like you, work together within the community to address the needs and conditions of children and families and have maximum impact in the lives of children, families, and communities.
We help to change a child’s life by changing the world in which they live. The well-being of your sponsored child is tied to the well-being of their family and community. We work with the whole community to address issues that are important to them so they can better care for their children. The best solution to poverty, one that will last, is not about giving people handouts or doing the work for them. It is about working alongside them to build a better community. We work with many people that contribute to the well-being of a child, including their families, organizations, groups, churches within their community, and their government.
Each community that we work with faces different challenges and has different needs. Therefore, the way that we do our work is unique to each community. World Vision listens to the people in a community to understand what hinders their children from reaching their full potential. We then help to improve the lives of children by working with their community to address the needs they have identified.
As you consider the words of James 5:1-6 this week, consider whether sponsoring a child might be a way for your family to be a blessing to a child (and his or her family) living in poverty.
shine!
Jason
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Love is more than a feeling
This week we will celebrate Valentine’s Day. This is a day centered on the love. Everywhere you look you will see hearts and a variety of other symbols that express the concept of love.
While romantic love is important, it is not the most important type of love. Our culture often waters down love to be about feelings and passion. While those are important parts of love, real, life-giving love goes much deeper. Paul describes that kind of love like this…
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)
Another early Christ-follower, the apostle John, has this to say about love that is anchored in the character of God…
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. (1 John 4:7-21)
As we hear a lot above love this week, remember that the love that emerges from the Kingdom of God is more than just a feeling; it’s a way of living life.
shine!
Jason
While romantic love is important, it is not the most important type of love. Our culture often waters down love to be about feelings and passion. While those are important parts of love, real, life-giving love goes much deeper. Paul describes that kind of love like this…
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)
Another early Christ-follower, the apostle John, has this to say about love that is anchored in the character of God…
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. (1 John 4:7-21)
As we hear a lot above love this week, remember that the love that emerges from the Kingdom of God is more than just a feeling; it’s a way of living life.
shine!
Jason
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Which wisdom?
There is a lot of “wisdom” in the world. All you have to do is go to a library or bookstore and you can find hundreds of self-help books telling you how to succeed, be transformed, or change your life.
The reality is that while some of these books contain good advice, the best advice comes from God. Before we try harder, read another book, or Google “becoming a better person,” we should turn to God for guidance.
The first key in gaining wisdom is to submit to God. As James says, “the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” (James 3:17)
While people spend millions – if not billions – of dollars every year seeking to discover wisdom, the best place to start won’t cost them much at all, at least financially.
I believe that the problem with some people is that they are willing to give up money for wisdom, but they’re not willing to give up their desires. We live in a world driven by desire and selfish ambition. According to the world’s standards, the wisest people are often the ones who know how to manipulate, scheme, and do whatever it takes to be successful.
In the Kingdom of God, things are the exact opposite. The first will be last and the last will be first. The greatest among you will be your servant. These are the signs of true wisdom; wisdom born of God.
Unfortunately, it seems as though many Christians subscribe to the world’s attitude about wisdom. We come to church asking what’s in it for me? We complain when the church doesn’t meet our needs. When we are not being served, we might look for a church that provides what we want.
I wonder how much different the church in America would be if followers of Jesus gathered to ask what they can give and what they can do for others. How would it affect our attitude about the hymns we sing, the programs we offer, and a variety of other issues that churches so often fight about? Maybe one of the biggest problems for the church is that we’re living according to the wisdom of the wrong kingdom.
shine!
Jason
The reality is that while some of these books contain good advice, the best advice comes from God. Before we try harder, read another book, or Google “becoming a better person,” we should turn to God for guidance.
The first key in gaining wisdom is to submit to God. As James says, “the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” (James 3:17)
While people spend millions – if not billions – of dollars every year seeking to discover wisdom, the best place to start won’t cost them much at all, at least financially.
I believe that the problem with some people is that they are willing to give up money for wisdom, but they’re not willing to give up their desires. We live in a world driven by desire and selfish ambition. According to the world’s standards, the wisest people are often the ones who know how to manipulate, scheme, and do whatever it takes to be successful.
In the Kingdom of God, things are the exact opposite. The first will be last and the last will be first. The greatest among you will be your servant. These are the signs of true wisdom; wisdom born of God.
Unfortunately, it seems as though many Christians subscribe to the world’s attitude about wisdom. We come to church asking what’s in it for me? We complain when the church doesn’t meet our needs. When we are not being served, we might look for a church that provides what we want.
I wonder how much different the church in America would be if followers of Jesus gathered to ask what they can give and what they can do for others. How would it affect our attitude about the hymns we sing, the programs we offer, and a variety of other issues that churches so often fight about? Maybe one of the biggest problems for the church is that we’re living according to the wisdom of the wrong kingdom.
shine!
Jason
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