Righteous Living – Page 37 – Three Minute Bible

March 22, 2020March 22, 2020

James 4: 8b — Cleansed

Close up picture of hands being washed in a sink.

Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Way back in chapter 1, verses 6 – 7, James writes about the double-minded person. He says a person who doubts is “double-minded.”

The Greek for “double-minded” is interesting. The word is, “dipsychos.” The prefix, “di-“ means two, or double. To say one is “double-minded” is a very literal way of saying a person has divided interests. More than that, James suggests the division is spiritually debilitating.

As I look back on my life, it seems to me that I have always suffered from some form of dipsychos. This world is very convincing. It claims to be the only thing that matters. It clammers for my attention every day. Yet the clues God has given us to His presence are very real. They have tugged at me my whole life.

March 21, 2020March 22, 2020

James 4: 8a — Closeness

A man's hand touches a child's hand, fingertip to fingertip.

Come near to God and he will come near to you.

I’ve always thought this statement to be a little bit odd. But then, I don’t think I have always thought about God the right way. If God is a stationary object, it makes sense (in a worldly sort of way) that if I get nearer to Him, He will be closer to me. But that is not what James says.

God doesn’t just wait for us to come to Him. He wants to be united with us. So he is very willing to come to us. Like the father in the parable of The Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32) when God sees us coming home he comes out to meet us.

March 20, 2020March 20, 2020

James 4: 7b — Running Scared

A stone gargoyle looks like the devil flees.

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Do you believe in the devil? As a kid, I remember being told “ghost stories.” Some of them were pretty scary! Some were scary and funny at the same time. All of them challenged my thinking about ghosts.

It was very common for little kids to challenge each other by saying, “You don’t believe in ghosts, do you?” It was always said in a taunting way that mocked the idea of ghosts. Many a time I agreed that I didn’t really believe in ghosts. The problem was when I was in church they were always talking about this being called the “Holy Ghost.” Everyone at church seemed to believe that the Holy Ghost was real, but … well … what was a ghost, anyway?

March 14, 2020March 14, 2020

James 4: 2b-3 — Water

You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

What is it you really need? Do you know? Needs are things we sometimes take for granted. For example, we need water but we don’t always want water. But take away your favorite beverages and plain water starts to look pretty good. Imagine you no longer have access to coffee or tea, sodas or fruit juice, or any other of the hundreds of possibilities. Now water looks great!

Here in the Northwest, we have a seemingly unlimited supply of water. But suppose you find yourself stranded in the middle of Eastern Oregon, miles from any town. Now you need water.

What else do we need, but sometimes lose sight of in the midst of all our daily distractions?

March 10, 2020March 10, 2020

James 3: 9-12 — Gob and Nob

Twin boys with blond hair. One is smiling the other looks afraid.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Purity of speech is a beautiful thing. To speak only what the Father wants us to say is to speak light into the world. Sadly, our world is hopelessly corrupt. No one is righteous… (Romans 3: 10)

Imagine for a moment, two children that happen to be identical twins. Both are boys. Both look alike. But inside they are different. One is very good, and the other is very bad. Let’s call the good twin, Gob and the bad twin, Nob. How are their worlds different?

March 9, 2020March 10, 2020

James 3: 7-8 – The Pause

A person and camel rest on the desert sand at dusk.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

James is taking us by the hand and showing us something that he considers very important. There is no room for hypocrisy when we stand before God. James does not tell us this to shame us or discourage us in our faith. Rather, he wants us to enter heaven victorious in Christ.

March 8, 2020March 8, 2020

James 3: 5-6 – The Demon in Your Mouth

Fire dancer sprays fire from the mouth up in the air.

Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

STOP!

Do not proceed until you have calibrated your brain to think like James.

Each of us speaks from a unique point of view. As much as we would like to think that everyone agrees with us on this or that topic, the fact is that no one agrees with you on everything. God made us so that we are each unique and dependent on Him.

Yes, there are a lot of things we have in common. But there are more things we disagree on. The challenge with reading the Bible is not to fit the words of the Bible into our world view, but to get our heads around God’s view. I suspect that he purposely wrote the Bible the way he did to keep us on our toes.

March 6, 2020March 6, 2020

Anger’s Summary – James 1: 19-20

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

Thank you for bearing with me as I wandered through this topical detour about anger. I have learned a lot. I hope you have picked up something valuable as well.

To review, we began with “Anger’s Cause” asking the question: Is it right to be angry? We answered that question with an, “It depends.” It depends on why a person is angry. Then we defined anger as a secondary emotion and described its origin this way:

“Anger is the feeling that results from an imbalance between our expectations and the situation we find ourselves in.”

March 3, 2020March 3, 2020

Anger’s Harbor – Leviticus 19: 15

Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.

How do we tell the difference between anger that has been harbored in someone’s heart and anger that is served up fresh each day?

Rich raised this question in response to yesterday’s post, “Hyperopia.” He posits a person who harbors “anger, revenge, [and/or] bad feelings toward someone in our family or inner circle.”

What does it mean to “harbor” something? A boat in a harbor has a place to stay protected from outside forces. The idea of harboring a feeling suggests that the person wants to keep the angry feeling alive. This kind of person nurtures a grudge and as Rich points out stews their bad feelings with thoughts of revenge.

March 2, 2020March 2, 2020

Hyperopia – 2 Samuel 19: 6a

You love those who hate you and hate those who love you.

Today’s passage is a bit odd for a theme verse. Joab, the king’s commander of the army, has just killed Absalom and saved the kingdom for David. Instead of thanks and praise, David rewards him with recriminations. Here is the passage in context:

“Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, ‘Today you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines. You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead. Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the Lord that if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come on you from your youth till now.’”

— 2 Samuel 19:5-7

For the most part, David lived a noble life. He was courageous before his enemies, and faithful to God, even to the point of respecting the life of the man who was bent on killing him, King Saul. It was only when he had achieved relative peace and had been established as king over Israel that the wheels started to come off.