Farm Girl Journals

Welcome Back to Journaling Through James, Week 4! This Week’s Text: James 4:1-17 If you’ll recall, last week’s chapter ended with the words, “…a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace”.   James begins his next sentence (the start of our text this week) with the exact opposite of peace: “What causes quarrels and fights among you?”   His answer: Your passions are at war within you.  Our flesh and spirit seldom agree with one another.  When our flesh desires something, it entices us to obtain it by fleshly means (James cites murder, fighting, and quarreling as examples).  He goes on to explain we do not have because we fail to ask, OR because we ask with wrong motives (ie—to satisfy flesh).  James likens chasing earthly passions to committing adultery—you can’t have it both ways.  “Friendship with the world is enmity with God”. (Another counter-cultural reference!) This is a hard teaching!  The world tells us to “follow your hearts desire” and “chase your dreams”.  But if our dreams are to make ourselves great (not God), then we can’t please God.  “You cannot serve two masters.  Either you will hate one and love the other or you will be devoted to one and despise the other.”  (Matthew 6:24) Jesus is actually talking about money in here, but the sentiment also applies to the James passage.  We can just as easily make ourselves/our desires idols that compete for our devotion.  We must not ignore God’s will to follow our own (and expect to please him).  Being told we might not have what we want hurts our pride.  “Therefore it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  Submit yourselves to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” James reminds the reader (in case he/she is feeling prickly

Welcome Back to Journaling Through James, Week 3 This week’s passage was considerably shorter than our first two weeks.  However, what it may have lacked in length, it made up for in depth!  In Chapter 3, we see James return to a theme he’s alluded to in each of our previous weeks—the dangers of the tongue!  Here are a few of my favorite highlights: James open Ch 3 with a warning that teachers will be judged with a greater strictness (and for that reason, not many of them should aspire to teach).   He also notes that it is common, even for himself, to stumble in many ways, but that if a person is able to keep a reign on his words, then he is able to control his entire body.  He uses several analogies (a bit/horse, a rudder/ship, a spark/a forest fire, etc.) to illustrate this point. James also suggests that while man has managed to tame every beast on the face of the earth, mastery of the tongue remains illusive .  His words, “The tongue is untamable by man” seem to imply that we must, therefore rely on a greater power—that of the Holy Spirit—to keep our tongues in check. James warns that the tongue is a restless evil, full of poison.  Don’t believe for one second that the sins of the tongue are innocent like society would have you believe.  “White lies” are still sin.  Gossip may drip off the tongue like honey and enter the ears like sweet music, but it is still sin.  Like poison, sins of the tongue, are often unassuming and can sometimes go down smooth and undetected, but in reality, they are deadly, life-sucking, and sometimes cause irreparable damage. James goes on to point out the hypocrisy of using our tongues both to bless/praise our Lord and Father and to curse people,