Live It

James is the brother of Jesus, and he wrote a book of the Bible...no pressure right? What do you think it was like growing up with Jesus as your brother? "You think You're so perfect!?" "Yes." Anyway, James opens His book by telling the Jewish Christians to seek the wisdom of God, and not to rely on their own wisdom. According to James, God will grant me wisdom if I ask for it, and He won't even be mad about it. He also says that without the wisdom of God I will just be floating through life with no direction, and ultimately be in a bad spot. Something hit me this morning, check out verse 7:

"Those adrift on their own wisdom shouldn't assume The Lord will rescue them or bring them anything."

In other words, if you aren't following God, you shouldn't expect help from Him. You hear this all the time. People use their bad situations as proof that God doesn't exist because He didn't help them. But 

think about this: Why would God help me if I'm purposely living in a way that rejects Him? It doesn't even make sense! God's grace is free to all who believe, but I can't forget that repentance is a big part of it too!

My faith is often revealed in my worst days. How much do I rely on God when the bottom falls out? If I persevere and keep the faith I will be rewarded. It is also true that if I'm persevering God will be with me through the whole thing! That makes it a little easier too. The opposite is true as well. According to James, when I give in to my sin, it gives birth to death. That's what sin does, it kills. 

I hear this all the time today: be real. This is what James says:

"Prove that you are real. Put the word into action. If you think hearing is what matters most, you're delusional-you are going to find you have been deceived."

It sounds like commons sense, but so many people have a hard time with this, including myself. Knowing things about Jesus doesn't do you any good...if they don't change your life. You can go to church your whole life, in fact you can live there if you want to..and still go to hell. It isn't about how much knowledge you have, it comes down to whether or not you put it into practice. An ounce of application is worth 1,000lbs of theory. I'm not saying I don't have to study the word, I'm simply saying that it is a waste of my time if I don't live it out. Think about it, the Pharisees had the entire Old Testament memorized, and Jesus tore them to pieces because they didn't live out what they knew to be true. So I have to ask myself, what am I doing with the knowledge of Jesus that I have? If the answer is, 'not much,' then I have a serious problem. 

Enjoy the Journey