SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
4/8/2012 8:11:49 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Contrast in Operations
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: James 3:13-14
Message of the verses: In today’s SD I am looking at two verses in the book of James. The reason for this is that while looking over my older SD’s I found that I missed these two verses while going through the book of James. I know in my heart that the Lord wants me to look at these two verses today and so I trust Him in the timing of today’s SD.
Dr. Wiersbe writes the following before going into these two verses: “The wisdom from above, God’s wisdom, operates in a different way from the wisdom that is ‘earthly, sensual, devilish.’ Since they originate from radically different sources, they must operate in opposite ways.
“What are the evidences of false wisdom?”
Envy (v. 14a): “14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.” (ESV) “14 But if ye have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart, glory not and lie not against the truth.” (ASV) “14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.” (AVRLE)
This word “envy” ties in with James 3:1 where James is warning his readers not to desire the position of being a teacher: “1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.” The warning here is that James does not want his readers to be ambitious in their desire to become a teacher because teachers will have a much stricter judgment. I believe that what James is saying here is that some believers may see other believers who have the genuine gift of being a teacher and are envious of that gift and therefore desire to teach when it is not something that they are gifted in doing. I have been talking about contentment for many years now and if one is envious of someone else then he surely is not content. There is a saying that a squeaky wheel gets grease and this should not be true among believers. As believers we are all given at least one spiritual gift and so we should be content that God has given us a gift to advance the cause of Christ in the church and use it for the glory of God and not worry about the gifts others have. Paul spoke of this in 1Cor. 12 when he was writing about spiritual gifts. He said “20 But now there are many members, but one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; or again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 22 On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; 23 and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, 24 whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, 25 so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”
Strife (v. 14b): “14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.” (AVRLE) This word speaks of having a party spirit, and the Greek politicians were an example of having strife when they were out canvassing for votes. In the wisdom of the world it says go out and get all of the support you can get and this kind of spirit causes self rivalry and it can also cause division in the church. Philippians 2:3-4 tells us “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”
Boasting (v. 14c): “14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.” (AVRLE) “14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.” (ESV) I believe that the Message version of verse fourteen gives us the best idea of what Paul is writing here: “14 Mean-spirited ambition isn’t wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn’t wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn’t wisdom.”
I believe that what Dr. Wiersbe writes at the end of his commentary on this subject helps me to understand it the best. “When God’s wisdom is at work, there is a sense of humility and submission, and you want God to get all the glory. You have no desire to compare yourself with any other Christian, because you see only Christ--and compared with Him, all of us still have a long way to go!”
Deceit (v. 14d): “Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn’t wisdom.” (Message) There can be a downward cycle if we believers follow the wisdom of the world for first we see selfish ambition and that leads to a party spirit which helps us win the election and because of that we boast about our victor and when we boast about our victories we usually lie and that is this last step of worldly wisdom, deceit. 1Cor. 4:5 states “So don’t get ahead of the Master and jump to conclusions with your judgments before all the evidence is in. When he comes, he will bring out in the open and place in evidence all kinds of things we never even dreamed of—inner motives and purposes and prayers. Only then will any one of us get to hear the "Well done!" of God.” (Message)
Meekness (v.13): “13 ¶ Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts.” (Message) “13 ¶ If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.” (NLT)
The word that Dr. Wiersbe uses here is meekness and meekness is not weakness. The Greeks used this word when they had broken a horse, for even though the horse was still as powerful as it was before it was broken the power is now under control. The meek person has one desire and that is to please God. We surely see meekness in our Lord who had His power under control, for when our Lord was on earth He did not brag about all of the miracles He did, but Jesus only wanted to do His Father’s will and therefore please His Father and that should be the desire of all believers even though at times we fall short.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “The phrase, ‘meekness of wisdom,’ is an interesting one (James 3:3). Meekness is the right use of power, and wisdom is the right use of knowledge. They go together. The truly wise person will show in his daily life (conversation means behavior’) that he is a child of God. Attitude and action go together.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: All I can say is thank you Lord for leading me to James 3:13-14 today for it has truly been a blessing to me as there are some areas that I am struggling with in my life and it is of the goodness of the Lord that He drew me here this morning.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I am comforted with the belief that God is not through with me yet. Paul spoke in Philippians that we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Paul was not speaking about our being saved from sin for that is a gift of God so no one can boast. Paul was talking about our growth process, our sanctification process and what I have learned this morning is part of that process. Being content is part of the process too.
4/8/2012 9:18:09 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment