WEDNESDAY, April 2nd, 2008

James 1:19-27

19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

There is so much amazing content in this passage! Let me start at the beginning! It is easy for me to justify my frustration or anger when I am upset about something. However the next verse makes it clear that when I have wrath or "anger" then I do not have righteousness, or "Godliness". When I get angry, I need to lay apart, or separate myself from any kind of filthiness, or ungondliness. Then the passage begins to talk about being do'ers and not just hearers. That is what I am working on, I must not be just a hearer, but I must do what God works in my heart to do. The only thing that will help me do those things is what verse 25 talks about. It says that If I am going to grow in the Lord, then I need to open His Word and look into it, as if it were a mirror to compare my actions to the Word of God. Then I will see what I need to fix. By you doing your devotions tonight, you understand how important it is to get in the word. So, STAY FAITHFUL!! Do it every day. Look in the spiritual mirror to see what you need to fix today. (and tomorrow and the next day)

Be Faithful in His Word!
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

For me, this passage of scripture says that i should listen to what other people have to say about an issue, but not be fast in saying something bad about it and I should be slow to anger. I should not get angry about what they have to say because housing anger is not the works of God or a godly person. Verse 21 is telling me to lay aside my excess of bad or naughtiness, and get saved and live with Jesus in your heart. The next verse talks about being doers of the word and not just hearers who decieve their own self. If I just hear the word and don't do what it tells me, it says i'm liken unto a man who is looking into a mirror of his natural person. He observes himself in the mirror and he goes his way and at once forgets what kind of man he was. But, whoever reads and does what the bible says, and continues this work, nit being a forgetful hearer he shall be blessed in what he does. If anyone among us seems religious but he does not restrain what he says, but decieves his heart, his religion is for nothing. Believing in God and the Father is to visit the orphans and widows in their time of need, and to keep himself having moral standards.


Hey guys!

April 2, 2008 at 10:15 PM
McCue said...

Great passage. In this passage I think about the swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath. I think that more understanding and a patience or an eagerness to listen and learn is important. Even more important it the ability to be slow to your angers and to think about what you might say. As men we have to constantly guard against the abrasion that our tongues and anger can cause.
Also, I like how this passage uses the analogy of the man in a mirror. To me this says that when you look at yourself into the mirror(figuratively) you see flaws that can be changed through God's word. We can read the bible and learn God's ways but when we go on our way we must remember what we looked like in the mirror and what we need to apply so we do not "hear " the word but don't do it.

April 2, 2008 at 10:34 PM

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