Evil Thoughts Of Partiality

“My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and say to the poor man, ‘You stand there,’ or, ’sit her at my footstool,’ have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?” James 2:1-4 (NKJV).

It seems that there is partiality or favoritism shown in almost every area of life. Sometimes it even gets into families. One place that it should not be is within the gatherings and assemblies of the Church. It should not be among family members either, but it happens.
There are not too many parents who would admit to showing favoritism to one child over another, but it happens, none the less. Not too many churches would admit to showing favoritism or partiality among members of its congregation, but it still happens. If there is one place where partiality should be anathema it should be within every local Christian congregation.

It is really a sad indictment on the Christian when we are more impressed with a “gold ring” and “fine apparel”, and we start giving special seating arrangements for people when we meet. Wealth in itself is not evil. It can be a blessing or a curse. It is most likely a curse to most people who have it. A woman by the name of Dorothy Parker said, “If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people He gave it to.” I think there is supposed to be some humor in that. There are many people who receive wealth and don’t know what to do with it, ie., how to manage it - handle it; and they get it through gambling, the lottery, familty inheritance; sudden wealth, and in a short time they are bankrupt.

I never want to be accused of cursing wealth, or the wealthy. These people are no better, or no worse than the rest of us. As has been said, “They put their pants on the same way we do. One leg at a time”. When it comes to those who have wealth in the church they cannot be praised, admired, given seats or places of authority, just because of their wealth. Too many leaders in churches hate to even carry out Biblical discipline upon a member who has been living immorally, violated the churches covenant, or turned away from serving in the church, because “…their tithes and offerings is what supports the church”. Since when is the church held together by the wealth of a member of the church.

If you will note in the Scripture above one of the things James gives us to consider when speaking of the way we would treat the poor is when he says to him, “Sit at my footstool”. It is a subservient thing, as to say “You are no better than my servant”.

“…Judges with evil thoughts” and evil intentions. When we start judging our church members or attenders by their “gold rings” and “fine apparel”, then it is because we have evil intentions. We are set to try and get what we want out of this rich individual, and make the poor be our servants. The poor man or woman just might be more godly, and the better servant of the Lord than the wealthy individual. Let us who are children of God, who are church leaders; whether pastors, deacons, elders, teachers; never give more favor to the wealth of any individual, but let us rather see each individual’s worth before God.

-by Tim A. Blankenship

There are many questions, and at times many accusations, and arguments over the issue of marriage. Biblically, marriage is between one man, and one woman "until death do we part". The issue of same sex or homosexual marriage is playing a large part in that definition today.

As a Christian I take the Biblical view of marriage, and will until the Lord returns to take me home with Him. A question comes to my mind, however, "Why has marriage been so cheapened, so degraded?", and I must answer that with this.

The divorce rate is around 50 percent. That sounds awful to me. Fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce. Is that what is meant by that statistic? If so, that is truly terrible, and a shame to be attached to something that God has ordained.

There is something that makes the matter even worse to me, and that is the divorce rate among those who profess to be "Christian". It is at the same rate, and maybe even higher. It seems that many Christians have bought into the "Me" lie. They may not admit it, but live as though their living life is all about "Me", and there is no surrender, no commitment, no loyalty to the spouse (husband or wife).

Let me ask this question, "Who has really cheapened marriage; those who have no commitment, or the issue of same sex marriage?" I dare say that had we Christians stood firm on faithful marriages, and committed ourselves to our own wife or husband, then there would not be the issue and debate of same sex marriage.

Here is the Biblical idea for marriage. "Wives, submit to your husbands as unto the Lord" (Ephesians 5:22); and "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her…" (Ephesians 5:25). When these are followed there will be happiness in the marriage, along with joy and peace.

Just my thoughts for today.

-Tim A. Blankenship

Pure Religion

"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." James 1:27 (KJV).

Mankind can be a selfish lot of people, and at times be the most generous. In times of tragedy, and catastrophic events we see the best and the worst in people. There are some that will risk life and limb to help others, then, there are those who see opportunity for personal gain, and will do whatever to take what they want from already devastated people’s homes and lives.

There are some who will jump in and help others, their neighbors, and others, because they believe and think in their hearts and minds, "I will help them, then, when something similar happens in my life others will be there for me". I don’t know who thinks that way, but I have a suspicion that many do. Some of these are folks who are church going, good neighbors, helpful at any time to others type of people, who practice their faith, and some are not.

We wrote of religion in the previous verse and we see that religious people are not always pleasant people. They go to "worship" God on their days of worship, but when it comes to practicing their faith; well, let’s just say it is a bit absent. Their words are more into complaining, bitterness, anger, envy, and may even curse from time to time, or all the time. They are selfish with their money, time, and talents. Christians must know and realize that Christianity is about our cross; you know, the one we are to take up, and follow Jesus. That cross says, "I don’t have a life of my own. It died with Christ, and rose with Him to live eternally with Him and for Him", and that means in the now.

Pure religion would be the worship of God that leads to caring for those who find themselves without a mother or father, and without a husband. These are people who have found themselves, through no fault of their own; without anyone to care for their earthly needs. They cannot return anything to us. We can expect nothing in return. What kind of love is it anyway, that does something for others with expectations of payment of some kind? That is not any act of love. It is the act of a laborer.

Pure religion that is undefiled before our Lord Jesus and His Father is the putting of our faith to work by helping those who cannot help themselves. The widow of Jesus’s day had no means of support, because the woman was always dependent upon their husbands. The orphan had no parent to tend their needs, and in those days there was no orphanages. In both of these situations the orphan had no family to care for them; no aunts, uncles, cousins; no other family at all. This widow would have had no children to help her, and no other family; she would be what Paul called a "widow indeed" (1 Timothy 5:3-5).

The Religious Tongue

"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." James 1:26 (KJV).

Please understand that when we see the Bible; which in this case is the KJV; using the word "man" it is speaking in a generic sense. Mankind is meant here and could be worded "If anyone…" So ladies don’t think that this does not apply to you.

Religion hated Jesus when He walked among men and women on this earth. We see them constantly trying to trap Him in His words, and in His life. We see the religious leaders trying to kill Him before it was His time.

What is usually meant by religion. The MIRRIAM/WEBSTER DICTIONARY defines it this way: "The service and worship of God or the supernatural. 2: devotion to a religious faith…. 4: A cause, principle, or belief held to with faith and ardor –" The religion James speaks of is ceremonial observance or worshipping. A worship that does not practice righteous living is vain.

One of the things James is reminding the Christian is to bridle the tongue. Sometimes I hear people just blurt out what they think. There is a preacher I know who don’t mind using a curse word, if that comes to his mind. He says, "I think it, so I just as well say it." That is foolish thinking and foolish theology. That would be similar to taking what Jesus said about a man looking at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart, and saying, "I thought it, so I just as well do it". That would be a foolish religion. It is foolish thinking.

James will deal more with the tongue a little later in his letter, but right now he is telling us that if our religion or practice of worshipping God does not affect the use of our tongue then, we might need to reevaluate our religion. Jesus should mean more to us than any religious practice. He should be our Lord and Savior, not just Savior. When He is Lord He will change our vile and evil tongue into a tongue which glorifies His name.

The Continuing Believer

"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." James 1:25 (KJV).

The Word of God is the bread and meat of the believer, the child of God. We recently looked at the casual observer of the mirror of God’s Word. It does him/her absolutely no good.

James now brings the reader to realize that the "perfect law of liberty" is that book which we can hold in our hands and hide in our hearts that we might not sin against God. The natural man looking into the mirror and goes away without fixing the smudgy face, his misplaced hair, the sleep in his eyes, has taken no action on what he has seen. When the believer opens the Scriptures we look into a mirror with greater reflection than any mirror ever made by man. It is clear and without imperfections.

The writer of Hebrews tells us, "For the word of God is quick [living] and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing assunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12 (KJV). The child of God cannot read it without having the Spirit of God move in and work the work of God.

The MacArthur Study Bible says of this verse, "perfect law. In both the OT an NT, God’s revealed, inerrant, sufficient, and comprehensive Word is called ‘law’ (cf. Ps. 19:7). The presence of His grace does not mean there is no moral law or code of conduct for believers to obey. Believers are enabled by the Spirit to keep it. liberty. Genuine freedom from sin. As the Holy Spirit applies the principes of Scripture to believers’ hearts, they are freed from sin’s bondage and enabled to obey God (John 8:34-36)." NKJV p.1928. The child of God will be one who continues in the word of God. "Continueth" means "to stay near, to abide in" and is similar to Jesus’s words, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed." John 8:31 (NKJV). The KJV reads, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed…". The thing which we see here is a word and an act of perseverance. When we abide, continue, and stay near the Word of God we will live it, and it will work its way out in our lives where it is visible for the world to see. Jesus Himself will receive the glory, because it is He who has made it all possible.

The Psalmist wrote, "Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in his law doth he meditate day and night." Psalm 1:1-2 (KJV). The child of God has heart for the Word of God, and the Word of God; the reading, the study of it, and a conscious effort to live for God’s glory will work its way out in our lives.

The Casual Observer

"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 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: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. " James 1:22-24 (KJV)

Doing the Word is the practice of what God teaches. James likens it to a mirror or according to the KJV a "glass". We should understand that the mirrors of that day were not real clear for preparing one’s self for the day ahead. They used polished brass. Maybe in some cases they had a clearer view than others of themselves, and maybe not.

Even in this 21st century if a mirror is cracked or twisted it gives us a distored view of ourselves. Mirrors can be made to make us look thinner, which seems to be the going thing today. Thus, deceiving ourselves.

The individual mentioned in verse 24 of our text today is the one who just takes a casual look into the mirror. The casual look spends no time finding need to groom, or even to clean one’s face. That, sad to say is how many people approach the Word of God; even some Christians approach it that way; if at all.

They may spend a moment reading a chapter, a verse, and maybe even a few chapters, but they do not hear what God has said. They have their mind on the day at work. They have their mind on the problems they may face today, or the problem that was left over from last week. Then, they wonder, "Why do I not see God at work in my life?" The answer to that question or thought is; because you don’t let God work in your life. You are too busy with you.

When it comes to the Christian and the Word of God we cannot be a casual observer. The casual observer of God’s Word would be like sitting down at the table to eat a meal of T-bone steak, baked potato, with your favorite vegetable, and favorite dessert, then getting away from the table and not know what you ate. I use T-bone steak because that is my favorite steak. I know when I have eaten T-bone steak. When we sit to eat our favorite meal we savor it, we taste it, we enjoy it. The same should be said of our reading and study of God’s Word.

Doing The Word

"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." James 1:22 (KJV).

It is amazing how positive the Word of God is. James uses the positive rather than the negative in stating how we are to be. Most of us like positive. Whether you are negative or positive can be determined by the answer to this question, "Is your gas tank half empty or half full?" My answer to that is that it would be half full, because empty is empty, and saying "Half empty" is like saying it has half of nothing. Now what does James say that is positive?

In the past three studies or so we have looked at some of the things which James has been positive about. Being "swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath"; "Laying aside all filthiness…, naughtiness…", "receive with meekness the implanted word…" The negative of those things are easy enough to see. James tells the Hebrew Christians and the Christians of all ages to "Be doers of the word, and not hearers only".

One of the easiest things that we can do as Christians is to read, study and criticize the Bible and its teachers. However, there is a reason for the reading, study and listening to the teachers and preachers of the Word of God. That is that we might hear and do it. Do it with all our heart. When we really hear what God says, and we love Him, there will be no problem with doing it with all our heart. The prophet Jeremiah said, "Your words were found, and I did eat them; and Your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts." (Jeremiah 15:16).

The eating of God’s word is far more than just tasting, but devouring, allowing it to get into the bottom of the stomach, so to speak, to accomplish its work in us. John the apostle likened it in his stomach as bitter, a rumbling, rolling, stomach, and that was after saying it was sweet in his mouth. There is more for the Christian to do concerning the written word than just reading it. There is the taking it into our lives and having it accomplish its work in us, and that is to make us more like Jesus.

To be doers of the word prevents us from deceiving ourselves into thinking we are in God’s will, because we are merely hearing the word. When the Christian is really hearing the Word we will be doing the word as well. When the Word of God is truly being heard it will be bitter in the belly, through conviction of sin, revealing any unconfessed sin which may be in the recesses of our heart and mind. We have all heard the phrase, "The preacher stepped on my toes this morning", and by that is usually meant that they were convicted by what was spoken. That is a good thing, unless, you do nothing with what convicted you. Did you put that evil deed, or thought, or word away from you? Do you allow God to accomplish His work in you? Will you continue to do so?

The Mirror of God's Word

"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 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:" James 1:22-23 (KJV)

When we get up each morning, at least most of us, we go to the bathroom, wash our face and hands and take a look in the mirror. It has been said that men and women see themselves differently in a mirror. Women are more careful about how they look, and they will spot every hair that is out of place, every wrinkle on the face, and feel that they have much to do to make themselves presentable. Men, on the other hand, look casually, and think; "Man, that is one good looking dude." I hope you laugh at that. More seriously the mirror is presented in this passage as representing the Word of God, and we must approach the mirror of God’s Word with care.

The casual hearer of the Word of God who does not do anything with what they hear is like the man who casually looks into the mirror, but does nothing about what he sees. He will see nothing wrong, everything will be just fine. There is no hair out of place, no sleep matting in the eyes, no need to do anything to that gorgeous face and hair.

The Word of God is the place to stop, behold, and listen. In the Word of God we learn about God; His mercy, grace, love, righteousness, holiness, wrath, and judgment. We learn that He is All-Present; All-Knowledge; and All-Powerful. We learn that He is ever unchanging [Immutable]. We learn that that He is Creator of all things, and continues to hold the creation, all of it in His hands. We learn in His word the wickedness of mankind, and God’s wonderful love demonstrated in His Son’s death on the cross, the burial of His Son Jesus and carrying all our sins away to never be held against us; never to be brought up again; never to come back and overbear us with their guilt and shame. We learn that through the grace of God we are justified in His sight through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The man or woman looking into the mirror of the Word of God will see who they are, where they came from, where they are going, and why they are in this world. You will see that, without Jesus, your destiny is destruction, death, and eternal damnation. The Word of God shows every hair out of place, every wrinkle and its depth, every scar from the past that you refuse to let go of. It also will show you what to do about it. In the Word of God we see our condemnation, but we also see God’s answer, God’s redeeming power, and deliverance from our sins to the place by His side.

Get Out of Those Filthy Rags

"Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls." James 1:21 (KJV).

It is a fruitless endeavor for those who refuse to hear and acknowledge the word of God as being the Word of God. Why do people want to use "higher critical" interpretations of Scripture? My personal view of that is to give themselves an air of superiority, even over the Word of God. That is what is in the heart of man, and has been since Adam and Eve fell in the garden of Eden.

This, however, is not the heart of the Christian, the disciple of Jesus Christ who loves Jesus and hungers and thirst for righteousness, and longs to be nearer Him each and every day. We desire to hear His precepts, His ordinances, His commandments, His law, and apply them to our lives. I don’t know who originally said this, but I heard it from the godly pastor I had when I surrendered to preach the Word; referring to the Bible he said, "Sin will keep you from this book; or this book will keep you from sin." I have heard it many times since then. The Psalmist wrote, "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy word." (Psalm 119:9).

The Lord is glorious and powerful and worthy of praise and glory from all His creation. One part; the one made in His image and likeness; fell short of His glory due to pride and rebellion against the word of God. Because God desired fellowship with the man and woman He was merciful, gracious, and provided an animal to die in their place. The animal was a picture of a Savior who would come in God’s on economy of time, and give His life as a ransom for many. When a man or woman trusts the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross; the heart and life of that individual is changed to love God, love His Word, His will and His way.

We are given commandment to "Lay apart", and that is similar to taking off vile and dirty clothing. Sin has been like a garment; a filthy, stinking, putrid garment; that has repulsed God, hated and despised anything godly, righteous and holy. The Christian no longer has the desire to have anything in the heart and life which is repulsive to God, and finds that old things in our lives that use to thrill us, are becoming more and more repulsive to us.

There are other uses of similar sayings in Paul’s writings, "Put off" (Colossians 3:8), and he uses the word "Mortify" or "put to death" in Colossians 3:5. It is the picture of quickly getting out of those old filthy rags. When Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead he came scuffling out of that tomb with the grave clothes still wrapped around him, and hindered by them. When he was to the edge of the tomb Jesus said, "Loose him, and let him go." We are hindered many times by the old grave clothes, and need to "Lay apart" those old sins and have the Word of God work in us powerfully.

Responding to God's Word

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." James 1:19-20 (KJV).

In the previous study of verse eighteen we saw James writing, "Of His own will begat he us with the word of truth…" The Word of God should be precious with the Christian. It should be as precious as the meals you eat for the sustenance of your physical body. For our spirits to grow more into the image and likeness of Christ we need the word of God.

We should be eager to pick up our copy of God’s Word every day, open its pages, read the words, and let the Spirit of God feed us. In that feeding we may receive conviction of sin which we have committed; we will receive encouragement to fight all the discouragements, distress, doubts, and fears which life throws at us; we will receive instruction of how to live a godly Christian life; we will receive rebuke for those times we did not carry through with God’s leading. Because of these things we are to be "swift to hear", let the Word and the Spirit work together in our hearts and minds to change us into the image of Christ.

Have you ever seen anyone get angry over something the preacher said, and what he said was scriptural, he even said it with love and grace, seasoned with salt? There are things God may reveal to us through His Word which could make us angry. The preacher or teacher who will clearly expound the Word of God will have someone offended occasionally, and that should not surprise us. We are dealing with fallen human beings. No one really likes to have their sinful lifestyles exposed for what it really is. Sinful living is an offense to God. If it is found in the life of the Christian that needs the confrontation, the exposure, and it needs dealt with. We have no right to criticize the Word of God. We certainly have no right to become angry with what God has said, or what His messenger has been given for the people to hear.

Hear me here. Not everything the preacher says from the pulpit is from God. Surely we know that from some of the words a certain Presidential candidates pastor has said. We are given command to check what men say with the written Word. That should be a practice we all get into. It does us no good to speak against the Word of God. We should be slow in condemning what God’s messengers say as well; having taken time to verify what has been said with Scripture, then, when we have evidence that what has been spoken from the pulpit was not true, was said while in a moment of passionate, rhetorical display, and/or was just plain wrong we should confront the speaker; and make it right.

"Wrath" should come also come slowly. Some act as though anger is wrong. It would be wrong not to be angry in some matters and situations. When we get angry, we need to take control of it so as not to do anything rash. The wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God. God’s wrath does work His righteousness. Let us devote ourselves to the reading, study, hearing and devotion to the Word of God; and do it with all our heart in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Hear what the Word of God says of itself:

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Timothy 3:16-17

"The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes." Psalm 19:7-8ff (KJV).

The Sovereign Act of God

"Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." James 1:18 (KJV).

Salvation, regeneration, being born again are all expressions of the same event. It is a sovereign act of God to save. No one can on their own decide one day that they are going to be regenerated, and trust God forever. That is the act, the sovereign act of God alone.

There is not one person who can of their own volition see that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God. On this matter Jesus told Peter, "Blessed art thou, Simon bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 16:17). Jesus also said, "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him…" (John 6:44).

There is so much emphasis in many religions of doing good works in order to please God and entering His presence when we die. There is not enough good works which you and I can do to please God. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah said, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64:6). These filthy rags are said to be likened to the menstral clothes of the women of the day. We could liken them to the rags that are sometimes used to clean up vomit from the floor of our homes from a sick child or adult. I don’t mean to gross you out, but that is how God views our attempts to gain His favor, and I want you to understand how gross it is to attempt such a thing.

It is solely the sovereign work of God. It is His will to save, to regenerate the unregenerate. He has made it possible through the blood of His own Son Jesus. He bled and died on that old, cruel, rugged cross. His blood poured down that cross onto the ground, and was collected on the altar in heaven for the redemption of all who will believe. This blood sacrifice is sufficient to save the whole world, but is only effecient to save those who will believe. This is solely the work of God. God will open the eyes of those whom He pleases, and darken those whose heart is hardened by self-righteous acts.

When is the right time to believe? At that moment when God shows you that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God; and that He died for your sins, was buried carrying your sins away - as far as east is from west, and cast into the depths of the sea - and that He rose victoriously from the grave and ever lives to make intercession for those who are His.

God of the Open Hand

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17 (KJV).

Have you ever met people who were always "tight fisted". They always have their hands in the fist formation. That seems to me to be a sign of a defiant character. They always are desiring to hold on to what they see as theirs.

What if God were "tight fisted". If that were the case we would be in really, really bad bad shape. It would be even far worse than what we think it is at times. If our Creator were of this type of character, there first of all, would probably be no creation to behold. We would not be existing. There would be no beautiful sunrises or sunsets. There would be no rainbows, or rainfall. There would be no mercy, and there would certainly be no grace. That would mean that there would be no cross, no burial, and no resurrection. There would be no you or me. Unless, of course, you believe that everything just appeared by coming up out of a primordial sea. What a miserable existence that would be.

God, however, is not "tight fisted". He is in fact the God of the "Open hand". I think that title fits Him well. He gives us all things to enjoy. Since He is God, and cannot be tempted to do evil, nor, does He tempt us to do evil; then, we can know that all things good come from Him. The "good gift" and the "perfect gift" are from His "Open hand". Let’s think about what the good and perfect gifts are.

Some of the "good gifts" are life itself. He gives all life. Every beat of the heart is given by His hand. Every breath we breathe is given by His hand. Do you want to think of Him as "tight fisted" now? I sure don’t. Every meal we eat comes from His hand. These and a multitude of other things like this are the "good gifts" which comes from His "Open hand". The "Perfect gifts" are things like the sending of His Son Jesus to die for our sins. You cannot get any more perfect than a perfect Son, who came to take away our sins. Included in that perfect gift would be the carrying away of sin, the resurrection, His ascension back to the Father. He has also left us promise that He would return and take us to Himself forever. The "perfect gift" is seen also in the person of the Holy Spirit who is our "earnest" until He comes. We are also recipients of the inheritance of Jesus Christ. We are joint heirs with Him. Read Ephesians 1, and Romans 8.

Don't Blame God

"Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:16-17 (KJV).

"An act of God" - that is what the affects of a tornado, hurricane, earthquake are called by most insurance companies. It seems that what is meant by that is that the events, and catastrophe’s that happen through things which are unpreventable by human means are that; an act of God.

"The devil made me do it"; a phrase which became popular by a commedian by the name of Flip Wilson was used long before Flip made it possible. We are a society who likes to place blame on others for our misfortunes. God and/or the devil are two of the most popular blame-ees for our chaos, catastrophe, pain and sorrow. We are also prone to blame a fellow human being if it is convenient to do do.

When it comes to sin and its consequences, however, there is truly no one but ourselves we can blame. James, tells us above, "Do not err, my beloved brethren." Do not err by blaming God for your sin and temptations. That is actually what Adam did when he sinned in the garden.

Let’s look at what Adam actually said, "That woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." (Genesis 3:12). Do you note that he blames God for giving the woman. He is blaming the woman, but the actual blame is directed back to his Creator. "Whom Thou gavest to be with me…" So this thing of blaming God is certainly not new, nor is that of blaming others.

What is the way we should respond to realizing we have sinned. Confess it, repent, ie., turn from the sin to Christ Jesus, and believe in the atonement of the death of Christ; and that He was buried - carrying sin away, and that He rose again, and ever lives to make intercession for us.

Where Evil Begins

"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1:13-15 (KJV).

Oh, how important it is for the Christian man and woman to guard their minds. We sin due to lust that forms in our thoughts. Lust is merely the desire of something which takes away from our normal God given life. It can even be called covetousness, or greed.

In the New Testament it is even called idolatry. "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." Colossians 3:5 (KJV). Paul was instructing the Christians to put these things to death in our lives. The Christian must fight against the onslaughts of sin and evil in our lives every day.

Evil begins taking place in our minds when we are drawn away from our place with God; when we are drawn away from Walking With God, and begin to entertain thoughts of evil. How can I obtain that new car? How can I obtain that new home? How can I obtain that other man’s wife? and these things begin to control our thinking. We become obsessed with the thought of obtaining things and pleasures and comforts - drawn away into immorality. I believe that Martin Luther the reformer is given credit for saying, "You may have a bird fly over your head, but you will not allow it to light and build a nest." Allowing the evil, sinful thought to stay, "build a nest" is lusts conception, and when lust is conceived it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished brings forth death.

Christians are people of life; and in particular; new life in Jesus Christ. When we allow sin to come and roost in our hearts and lives we begin losing our desire for God, prayer, the reading and study of His Word; and certainly living for Him is the farthest thing from our minds. Oh, that every Christian reading this today would check and examine their hearts, and the thinking of their minds. What is the foremost thought you have at this time? I would imagine that right now if you are reading this you are next door to coming home or are already there.

As Christians we are ministers of righteousness, and ministers of reconciliation. If we are not Walking With God we can not be either one effectively. For the Christian to continue in sin is deadly. The Christian cannot become spiritually dead, but we can have our physical life cut short due to sin. The MACARTHUR STUDY BIBLE note, "Sin is not merely a spontaneouos act, but the result of a process. The Gr. words for ‘has conceived’ and ‘brings forth’ liken the process to physical conception and birth. Thus James personifies temptation and shows that it can follow a similar sequence and produce sin with all its deadly results. While sin does not result in spiritual death for the believer, it can lead to physical death (1Cor. 11:30; 1 John 5:16)." p.1927.

"For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep." 1 Corinthians 11:30 (NKJV). "If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that." 1 John 5:16 (NKJV).

God Is Not Tempted

"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1:13-15 (KJV).

God, the Father may allow us to go through every trial which we go through. It does not seem that any of them are of His origin. There were many trials which Abraham went through. For example; upon entering the Promised land he had built an altar or two to the Lord and realized this was the land to which he was supposed to come and was given as an inheritance to his descendants. However, when a famine came into the land, he evidently became worried, and went down into Egypt. There, he built no altar. There he accumulated things, and people, and one of those people was most likely Hagar, a servant to Sarah. This one act of leaving the place of promise became a source of more trials and tribulations.

There are none of us  immune to making bad choices or decisions which do not glorify our Lord.

James writes in verse 14 of our text, "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." Let me give you an illustration of being "drawn away". When I was a boy in High School I was in the Future Farmers of America. For my projects I had milk cows and raised hogs. I don’t guess that I was a real good hog farmer, because we never had a fenced off place for them, and they ran wherever they wanted to go. I did buy hog feed and fed them on a regular basis; I think every evening. I would go out, lift my voice in a shout that echoed through the hills and hollers of our farm, and in a few minutes they would be there eating.

When it came time to do some work on them; such as ring their snouts; or when it came time to sell them, they were accustomed to coming when I called, expecting feed, and most of them would come. That is when the feed was in the pen, and they would enter, we shut the gate and they were caught.

That is how we are often "drawn away". There are things in this life which entice us. There is a green, papery substance which catches our eye, and if we are not careful it can have a draw on us and draw us away from our hope and destination. Believe it or not the devil knows our weaknesses and he will "entice" us with those weaknesses. It would be great for us to know our weaknesses, deal with them, and when the devil comes luring, drawing us away from God and His truth, then we will be ready and stand against him.

The things of this world can lure us away from God’s plan for our lives. We are tempted to go after those things rather than walk with God. The walk with God is so much more rewarding. His rewards are eternal. The things which so often entice us and lure us away from God are only temporal, and will burn in the fires of judgment.