Busy weekend, friends? I'm right there with you. Grab your morning
coffee and let's dig in, simply. May you be challenged and loved as you
walk the scriptures this week.
I'm right there with you.
living the book of James
Week 2
End of Ch 1
Written by James, brother of Jesus.
We ended last week with James 1:21-25 and are Starting
this week with James 1:26-27
Monday: read James 1:26-27 (thru to vs. 27)
Tuesday: read James 1:26-27 again.
Vs 26 says… if anyone considers himself religious
and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his
religion is worthless.
Question:
Do we consider ourselves to be religious? Now days
we use that term like it is bad. For example, we might say “Well, they are just
religious.” because they like a certain type of praise music in the church or maybe
they like a “type of church” better than the other. That is what we have made religion to mean… what it
actually means is our OUTWARD acts of being a Christian.
Someone should be able to look at us and say “wow,
that person is so different” NOT because we are rude toward non-Christians or
because we go around judging other peoples sin, but because we are so
incredibly nice to people, forgiving, happy, and carefree of life’s worries. {aka living by the fruit oh.so.hard}
Gandhi says it best. “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
Oh, friends. What does our Christ look like?
Continuing in vs. 26: How about our tongue? Do we keep a tight rein on it?
Continuing in vs. 26: How about our tongue? Do we keep a tight rein on it?
Tomorrow: Lets focus on displaying our OUTWARD acts of
being a Christian. Lets watch our tongue, think before we speak, (remember last
week… quick to listen and slow to speak). Vs. 26 doesn’t just mean bad language; this means all talk. Mommas, talking bad about one
friend to another friend is wrong, it is a sin. It is a sin that is so VERY
EASY to fix! We have to just train our mouths to not speak mean things.
When we choose to love God more than we love talking bad about people it makes us a more beautiful person.
Remember who we are. we are a wife, a mother, a friend, a mother in law, perhaps even a grandmother. Let's work together hard now on using kind words to others and about others; trust me, it pays off. Are you sick of having friends who back stab you? Then quit being a backstabber. We only attract the type of friends we ourselves are-- or the type of friends who want to become someone like who we are--
Not because we are so good, oh we are not. But because the grace and goodness of that sweet Jesus. That crazy Jesus love.
Wednesday: Write it down! Feel
like talking about someone? Mad at someone, been hurt? Start a journal. Lets write our feelings down.
When we write out our thoughts, without even knowing it, we are giving all our worries and cares to
God--he will take care of us. Then, it is so amazing to look back and see his goodness in each step.
Thursday: read James 1: 26-27 again
vs. 27: the religion that God our Father accepts as
pure and faultless is this: look after orphans and widows in their troubled
times and keep yourselves from being polluted by the world.
Is our religion one that God our Father accepts as
pure and faultless? James gives us
the exact definition of a religion which God accepts as pure and faultless.
do.we.know.an.orphan?
how.about.a.widow?not do we know of one, do we know even one?
what are our hands, our feet, our words, our lives too busy doing?
Oh friends, mine is busy doing the laundry, are you there with me? There are always things to be done, but which are eternal?
Friday night: read James 1:26-27 again
Friday night: read James 1:26-27 again
Question:
Do we find ourselves taking better care of us rather than others?
How are we doing with keeping ourselves from being
polluted by the world?
The world says, "Oh, you deserve a break." "Take a rest." "This is too much for you."
Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." no matter the context, it still says the same. He is our strength.
This weekend, lets focus on taking better
care of others rather than ourselves. I think we will find, it is not
just pleasing to God but it
also makes us feel much better, as a person.
Even if we feel the person we are serving
does not deserve it remember, we
sure didn’t deserve what Christ did for us but he did it anyway. AND
remember we are doing it because we love God. I can’t tell you how often
I have to say
that to myself… “This is because I love you God, because I know this person doesn’t appreciate what I am doing, but you do.”
He sees you.
Our mission? To become a servant of all.
Becoming with you,
need to start at week one? Click HERE
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Becoming with you,
need to start at week one? Click HERE
{Yes, yes, thank you! the email feed is fixed! To all those of you who have missed having it tip toe into your inbox, it is fixed! However, you have to re-subscribe... stink those technical difficulties! Enter your email address above to re-subscribe.}
