Tag Archives: book of James

October 7
Leave a comment
Uncategorized Aside

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22, NIV)

Information. Inspiration. Perspiration.

Information is knowledge. God presents every person with the information that leads to life and peace.

Inspiration is the desire to act on that information. It is the bright light of revelation. It is the “I get it” moment. The devil attacks at the moment of inspiration to delay our engagement, because delay brings doubts; and doubts always conspire against truth and reality.

Perspiration is the work of taking information — fueled by inspiration — to reality. Information and inspiration without perspiration is akin to having a construction blueprint and all building materials at hand, but never breaking ground. Nothing of either temporal or eternal value is established or sustained without perspiration.

Get informed. Get motivated. Get to work.  – Luther

Tagged , ,
December 4
1 Comment
Uncategorized Aside
“As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” (James 5:11, NIV)

Suffering is the “tax” that all of God’s creatures pay for the corruption of Creation. In a perfect world, suffering would not exist. Yet, our world — though wonderful and good in so many respects — is not perfect.

Suffering is difficult, inconvenient, confounding, and often expensive in time and treasure. If you do not think suffering to be a blessing — you are correct to think so! It is perseverance through suffering that we admire. It is fidelity through adversity that we cheer.

The blessing in perseverance is not the “finish line,” but the course (whether it be an obstacle course, a race course, or a course of study).

Perseverance not only reveals the nature of our character, and improves it; it reveals God’s character for what it has always been: Full of compassion and mercy.  – Luther 

Tagged , ,
December 3
Leave a comment
Uncategorized Aside
“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.'” (James 4:13-15, NIV)

The late French President Charles De Gaulle is famously quoted as saying: “The cemeteries are full of indispensable men.”

To guard against “overplaying” our hand in this life requires humility, which may be defined as saying, “God, you are God — and I am not.”

The continuous acknowledgement of God’s supremacy as we move from assignment to assignment, and task to task, takes nothing from us. On the contrary, it gives each moment a will and a purpose that reflects the presence of the Almighty.  – Luther

Tagged , , ,
← Older posts