Meditate on this!
How strong is
the testimony of one man? Even Jesus in His humanity stated that if He
witnessed of Himself that it would not be true, nor would be the witness of
another man such as John the Baptizer. So the appeal of humanity for good works
even when the sin barrier is removed; must be to a Higher Court, a Perfect
Witness… God! John 5:31-37.
Thoughts about Life
One of the thoughts that crossed my mind while in
Ukraine was how this poor community could come together and build such a nice
church. I know that they waited on the LORD and I know that God provided, but I
had noticed a brightly gift wrapped box that seemed to be visible in the pastor’s
home and in the church whenever there was a service. The pastor and the
congregation used the box to collect money from gifts received from missionaries.
The money was not counted and remained a secret to everyone. This was foreign
cash that did not immediately go into a collection cycle for the general and
building fund. If there was a specific need for the building, like something
that was not budgeted the box would be opened. It was no surprise to us
Americans that the one time we witnessed the opening of the box, there was just
enough money in the box to meet the need. The pastor’s son Timothy, who was
about ten years old then; beamed with excitement that the amount in the box
covered the need at hand. The time of praise and worship that followed the one
opening of the box that we witnessed was awesome. It is in areas of the world
like these that the Power of the Holy Spirit is more visible. Acts 2:40-47.
James One
Verse 1 – James the half-brother of our LORD writes
his epistle to the Jewish nation which has been scattered, resulting from
persecution. The epistle is most likely one of the earliest and very likely the
first written epistle of the New Testament Canon around AD 60. There are many
tools available if you desire to search out the historical truth of this
dispersion of the Jews, so I will leave that up too you as you desire. I want
to jump right into the spiritual application; which for me is most important.
Verse 2-3 – A simple but powerful statement by this
apostle as he writes, he does not say… if you the brethren; fall into trials,
but says when we do, so he does not even assume that we may or may not. Thus
trials are an everyday event for all believers; Jew and Gentile alike. Trials
are circumstances of life and if you are alive and I believe you are since you
are reading this. A circumstance (trial) will occur in your life today. It may
be an old one that resurfaces; or one that you know is coming or even one that
you are living through at this very moment.
Well let’s not forget the opening statement of James which
is the second verse. “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” The
world around us apart from God cannot experience “JOY” so if we turn to the
world to fix our problems of circumstance, it will only be a temporary season or
time of peace and not the permanent “joy of the LORD” that the apostle is
speaking of. Now as we discuss the epistle we will be looking at; joy, faith,
works, wisdom and other critical issues that we sometimes set aside when the
trials (circumstances) of life overwhelm us.
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