Monday May 9, 2022

Scripture James 5: ⁷ Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. ⁸ You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. ⁹ Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! ¹⁰ Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹ As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

 Life Lesson: We can choose to cultivate an attitude of patience in the face of life’s ongoing challenges or we can choose to emote and react in the moment.  What we choose to do, or how we choose to respond, will shape the course of our life.

– James has been exhorting us to abstain from being judgmental, from boasting about what we are planning to do in the future, as well as warning those who glory in their wealth.  All of these concerns are a part of the deceptiveness of this world.  In other words, by indulging in such attitudes we are losing sight of who we are as those who are created in the image and likeness of God and believing the lie that we can live autonomously in rebellion against the Lord and actually profit from it. 

– We judge because we fail to acknowledge our own culpability to sin.  We boast in our plans because we fail to acknowledge that our life is a gift from God and we have no idea how long we will have this life in which to do what we want, and we glory in what we believe to be our wealth” because we fail to understand that the earth is the Lord’s and everything that is in it belongs to God! 

– Everything we have is from God!  We are forgiven because of God’s mercy and atonement, our future is in God’s hands, and “our wealth” is not ours but is from God. So then, how is that we who have been forgiven an eternal debt, choose whimsically to judge others?  Why do we who have been given the gift of life from God declaring how we will use this gift, what we will do, or where we will go?   And who then are we to selfishly hoard the resources God has given to us as though our wealth was our own, when we know that God generously lavishes on us so many wonderful gifts? 

– How then ought we to respond?  We ought to respond graciously as those who have been blessed with abundance from God.  And when we see inequities at work in this world we ought to look upon such things with patience, not give way to a carnal attitude and instead remember God is the Just Judge!  God will render a righteous judgment!  As the farmer waits, so too we must wait in faith believing that those who sow in righteousness will reap a sure reward, Prov. 11:18!   “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” 2 Cor. 9:6!  And “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life”, Gal. 6:8.  “The Just Judge is standing at the door!”  Therefore, honor God above all else!