How to Love God's Children

“Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?” - James 4:11-12

Reaffirming the truth that we need to be slow to speak, James now tells us how serious an offense it is to “speak evil” against a fellow Christian.

Let’s take a look.

From previous blog posts, we know that if you speak evil against a person, you have just indirectly spoke evil against the creator of the person because, well, he created them. Get it? (For more, check out my blog post titled “Shut it”). We know a person insults God if they insult his creation (any person), but what if we insult his children? Ouch. If someone tells me the house I built is a piece of crap (assuming I had been trained in house-building), I would take a fair amount of offense, but probably still go home that night, tuck myself into bed, complain a little to my wife, and have a nice sleep. However, if someone comes along and starts telling my child they are an idiot, that would go over much differently.

Believers are God’s children, non-Believers are not. 

Insult a believer, you have just insulted God’s child. 

Not only that, but “the one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law.” Why? If I am a cross-country runner (which I’m not) and you insult my ability to run even though I just won a race, you have not insulted me, because clearly I’m good at running, but rather the system by which cross-country participants are judged. You haven’t insulted the person, but the system. Christians who speak against other Christians because of their own pride or insecurities have not judged the person, but the system that God created. 

So, you wanna insult a fellow Christian? You don’t? Oh, because you realized that it’s the same as insulting God’s children and the system by which he chooses to raise his children up? Yeah.

Good news? Their is a lawgiver and judge. 

Bad news? It isn’t you.

How do you cut the crap and quit insulting and hating on Christians so that your own self-esteem is boosted? Here are some ideas.

1. Attend church regularly. If you don’t attend church, you won’t even have the opportunity to get to be in a Christian community so dive in. 

2. Find security in God, not in works. God is gracious, accept your insecurities, admit them, and work away from them. God accepts you as you are, so accept yourself as you are. Accept your failings, work on them with God, but don’t convince yourself that your salvation and worth is based upon how much you do for God. It’s based upon grace.

3. And once again, shut up. Quit talking so much. If you don’t talk, you can’t insult Christians. So shut your mouth, think, and maybe once you have a nice thought, you can speak again.

Later.

God, or the World?

“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” - James 4:1-10

Well, we know from the previous verses in James how to effectively be more peaceable people, but do we know what causes our fights and quarrels? Most the time, we fight cause we feel like it, and that’s all that really matters, right? Wrong. Why do we fight with others? Because our passions are at war within us. Oh, you wanna feel better about yourself? Gossiping about others isn’t the way to accomplish that. You want what rich people have? Stealing isn’t the way to accomplish that. Well, I suppose it’s one way, but James doesn’t suggest it. Oh, and by the way, why aren’t you receiving what you ask for in your prayers? Because your selfish. Because you want to spend what you ask for on your own selfish passions. Have fun whore. 

“What did he just say?”

I said have fun whore. 

What do I mean? Check out what James says: “You adulterous people!” Literally he is calling people like this a whore. Quit saying you believe in God and living for your own selfish passions. Quit asking for worldly things and falling in love with worldly items. You say you love God, but you secretly have a relationship with the world. The bad news? God knows. The good news? Draw close to God and he will draw close to you. 

You better change. If you expect that you can come to the end of your life and offer God some worldly bribe to let you into heaven, your dead wrong. If this is your plan, you better expect hell. However, if you are willing to dedicate yourself to God, repent from the worldly love you once had and humble yourself that the Lord may exalt you, your situation will be significantly more enjoyable. How do you turn from your love for worldly things? Here are some ideas:

1. Get rid of it. You addicted to sex? Get rid of it. Video games? Get rid of it. It will be a difficult path but the reward will be well worth it. Try having an accountability partner who helps you out of the difficulty of getting over your addictions.

2. Your gonna die. Yeah, thats right, your gonna die. Everyone is, so start believing it. Quit being in denial that you will live on this planet forever and start preparing for the life after this one. With the right perspective on life, you might begin to spend your time a little bit wiser. 

3. Practice Discipline. Get rid of a bad habit and start a good habit. For example, I got rid of a video game I was playing way too much and started writing these blog posts everyday. The more time spent with God, the better. 

Wise? Learn Peace.

“Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” - James 3:13-18

I ask the same question. “Who is wise and understanding among you?” Are you wise? Do you have wisdom and understanding that allows you to discern between hate and love, heresy and truth, God and Satan? You do? Great! Now quit showing off. Rather, by your good conduct and morals, show your wisdom with humility. 

If you have been given a gift to understanding the word of God and applying it to your life appropriately (wisdom), then rejoice in that, use it, and bless other Christians with it. But the moment you have allowed pride to get its grasp on that wisdom, you can wave goodbye to any wisdom you previously had, because now it has been cluttered with “earthly, unspiritual, demonic” motives. And wherever those motives exist, “there will be disorder and every vile practice.” 

Literally, if you don’t handle your wisdom correctly, every kind of disorder and vile practice will be present. From pride to idolatry, to gluttony, hate, lust, gossip, adultery, and anything else awful you can think up. Why? Because the moment you are prideful about yourself, your gonna think your entitled to women, stuff, and happiness. Hello sin. Goodbye wisdom. 

What about those people who don’t have that kind of God-given wisdom? For you, I have the same thing to say, don’t act like you do because of insecurity or pride. If your not skilled at something, admit it to yourself, or your gonna lead Christians astray, which is not gonna make the Big Man happy. 

What’s the point? Why does this all matter? Everyone today is looking for peace, from the terrorists (though it seems like an oxymoron) to the Atheists. Everyone wants one thing on this earth (at least most people): peace. And in this passage of scripture, James tells us how to achieve it. How? By being “pure, peacable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” For those who make peace shall sow righteousness. 

How do we become peacemakers today? Study these qualities and one day at a time, adopt them into your lifestyle:

1. Purity

2. Peacefulness 

3. Gentleness

4. Openness to reason

5. Fullness of mercy

6. Fullness of good fruits

7. Impartialness

8. Sincerity 

Master these and you have become a peacemaker. 

Shut it

“So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.” - James 3:5-12

Ah yes, the tongue. We all know of its’ power to bless and to destroy. We know of its’ ability to curse, to love, to hate. We understand that the tongue is a “world of unrighteousness.” Don’t we? I mean, just the other day, I restrained from yelling at my wife because she called me at a bad time; and instead of telling my boss he is a jerk to his face, I just whispered it to myself so that his feelings wouldn’t get hurt. 

Get it?

The taming of the tongue isn’t actually at all about the tongue, but about the heart, the tongue is merely the exit point for all the hatred and love built up in the heart. That is why the tongue “boasts of great things;” because it is the medium by which our greatest passions are expressed. 

This member of our body can “set ablaze a great fire.” A fire of love, or a fire of hate, a fire of gossip, or a fire of honesty, a fire of destruction, or a fire of instruction. Human beings cannot tame the tongue, but God can and with the aid of the Holy Spirit, it is a realistic endeavor. 

But how do we tame the tongue? How do we actually control our mouth? Here are some ideas. 

1. Think before you speak. “Duh,” you say, “that’s an easy one.” But how often do you actually think about how what your about to say is going to effect the person your saying it to? Shut up and think.  

2. Don’t speak while your angry. Though this can sometimes end up leading to more anger on the opposing side, sometimes the wisest thing to do during a heated fight is to shut your mouth and try to process everything so that you aren’t simply reacting.

3. Practice saying nice things. While this seems like an easy one, it can actually be surprisingly difficult to say nice things to people. However, if you work on constantly encouraging others, you will find that your attitude is better and therefore your tongue is less evil.

Why is it so important to tame the tongue? Because with it “we bless God,” but we also “curse man” who is made in the image of God. Do you realize that James is telling us that it is just as bad to curse man as it is to curse God? Why? Because man is created in the image of God, by the very breath of God. If a man builds me a house and I look at it and call it a piece of crap, I have not insulted the house, but the house-builder. When we gossip, hate, insult, degrade, or hurt any human being with our words, we have just cursed the maker of the universe. How does that make you feel? 

Learn to tame your tongue. Day by day, learn more and more about how to overcome this sinful burden, and eventually you will turn this tool into a vessel for blessing rather than cursing.