James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a (NRSV)
Read James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a on biblegateway.com
Verse 13Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. Verse 14But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Verse 15Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. Verse 16For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. Verse 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. Verse 18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.
Chapter 4Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? Verse 2You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. Verse 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. Verse 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Verse 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Devotion
Who is there who has not at some time or other been involved in a discussion about the nature or importance of good works in the life of the Christian. The author of James asserts that true wisdom knows that good works originate not in ourselves but come down from above as a gift from God.
Life must be quite hard if one must wonder, each day before going to sleep, if one has accomplished enough good works that day. How much better it is to go to sleep knowing that good works arise from how we respond to all Jesus has already done for us, not first from what he demands of us. We can do them with joy instead of fearing we have not done enough. The covenant of God with humanity comes first of all as God’s fruitful gift. So we hear repeatedly: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.”
Prayer
God, through your gifts help me find joy in serving your people. Amen.
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