James 1:19-27

COMMENTS

In reviewing the post for James 1:13-18, I found some inaccuracies and some unclear statements.  I’ve corrected them (at least, the ones I saw!) and would encourage you to read it again.

 

NOTES

Today’s passage has a lot to say about our ears (listening), our tongues (speaking), and our hands and feet (well, not literally—I’m using them as a synonym for doing).  As I was growing up, I heard people say, “Do as I say, not as I do.”  (NOT my parents; they tried to be an example to me.)  God definitely isn’t a proponent of that philosophy!  Through James, he makes it clear that He expects us to follow through--that our lives should reflect Him and His truth in every way.

As I read verse 19, it occurred to me how often the human race—including me—does things backwards.  Isn’t it much easier to speak and to become angry than to actually listen?  We’d much rather tell someone what they should do or how they should think than to listen to what the person’s heart is saying.  And that applies even more to listening to our Lord!  And notice that in verse 21, James equates anger with “moral filth” and “evil”.  That should really shake me up….

I love the analogy in verses 22-25!  In this section of today’s passage, James tells me that if I listen to God’s word but don’t put it into action, I'm like a man who looks in a mirror and then forgets what he looks like after he walks away.  I’ve been taught through the years that God’s word is like a mirror.  As I study it, He reveals Himself to me; but He also reveals me to me.  Does that make sense?  As I see His perfection, my own imperfections become clear.  God, being a kind God, doesn’t reveal all of them to me at the same time—that would be too overwhelming—but little by little, He shows me what He wants to change so that I can be more “mature and complete” (James 1:4).  If I just “read” and do nothing with the truth He reveals, I’m like that man we just discussed.  What a waste of time and effort and, even worse, a waste of the work of the Holy Spirit.

Those revelations can and will cover many areas of weakness in my life, but James recognizes how often my tongue takes me down a weeded path.  My tongue can make my religion “worthless” (James 1:26). 

What kind of “religion” does God consider worthwhile?  A belief, a relationship with Him that puts hands and feet to my ears and tongue:  helping others and keeping myself “from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27).