Reflections on James 1

James 01 (Contemporary English Version)
1. From James, a servant of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ. Greetings to the twelve tribes scattered all over the world.
   
2. My friends, be glad, even if you have a lot of trouble.
   
3. You know that you learn to endure by having your faith tested.
   
4. But you must learn to endure everything, so that you will be completely mature and not lacking in anything.
   
5. If any of you need wisdom, you should ask God, and it will be given to you. God is generous and won't correct you for asking.
   
6. But when you ask for something, you must have faith and not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like an ocean wave tossed around in a storm.
   
7. If you are that kind of person, you can't make up your mind, and you surely can't be trusted. So don't expect the Lord to give you anything at all.
   
8. (SEE 1:7)
   
9. Any of God's people who are poor should be glad that he thinks so highly of them.
   
10. But any who are rich should be glad when God makes them humble. Rich people will disappear like wild flowers
    
11. scorched by the burning heat of the sun. The flowers lose their blossoms, and their beauty is destroyed. That is how the rich will disappear, as they go about their business.
    
12. God will bless you, if you don't give up when your faith is being tested. He will reward you with a glorious life, just as he rewards everyone who loves him.
    
13. Don't blame God when you are tempted! God cannot be tempted by evil, and he doesn't use evil to tempt others.
    
14. We are tempted by our own desires that drag us off and trap us.
    
15. Our desires make us sin, and when sin is finished with us, it leaves us dead.
    
16. Don't be fooled, my dear friends.
    
17. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father who created all the lights in the heavens. He is always the same and never makes dark shadows by changing.
    
18. He wanted us to be his own special people, and so he sent the true message to give us new birth.
    
19. My dear friends, you should be quick to listen and slow to speak or to get angry.
    
20. If you are angry, you cannot do any of the good things that God wants done.
    
21. You must stop doing anything immoral or evil. Instead be humble and accept the message that is planted in you to save you.
    
22. Obey God's message! Don't fool yourselves by just listening to it.
    
23. If you hear the message and don't obey it, you are like people who stare at themselves in a mirror
    
24. and forget what they look like as soon as they leave.
    
25. But you must never stop looking at the perfect law that sets you free. God will bless you in everything you do, if you listen and obey, and don't just hear and forget.
    
26. If you think you are being religious, but can't control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and everything you do is useless.
    
27. Religion that pleases God the Father must be pure and spotless. You must help needy orphans and widows and not let this world make you evil.

---

We are prone to think of faith as something that is primarily mental - something we believe. But, until we have acted on what we believe it cannot yet be considered faith - only belief. Faced with a situation that requires us to act on what we say we believe our belief faces its test as to whether it is faith or not. And more likely than not, this situation requiring our action will be one in which the choices for action will be between a more costly option as opposed to a less costly one, and the more costly option will be the one representing the faith we say we have. Understand, the cost involved is not necessarily financial. It is just as likely to be the cost of position or lifestyle or reputation or a number of other possibilities. Will we adhere to our believe regardless of the cost? If so, our belief will prove to be faith.

I believe this is what James refers to in this first chapter of his book. A testing of our faith will validate it. Not only this, but James says it will produce endurance and maturity. This result, and not the testing itself, is something we should consider a joy. Furthermore, we are blessed if we pass the test for we will receive the crown of life that is promised to those who love the Lord. These tests are not something we should endure without help, though. Rather, we should pray for wisdom that will carry us through the testing and can expect that God will give it to us generously and without criticizing us for asking.

Through verse 12 James refers to testing that comes from an outward source. But in verse 13 he shifts to temptations which come from within us. It is as if he is saying that while we undergo the testing of our faith we will also be subject to temptations within. And when these come to us we need to know they are not from the Lord. God is not the source of temptations, "For God is not tempted by evil, and He Himself doesn't tempt anyone." These come from our own evil desires, he says. Rather than being the source of temptations, God is the source of every good and perfect gift. Why, then, do we so often attribute the bad things that come into our lives to God? No, God is the source of good, not of evil.

Toward the end of the chapter James speaks of our response to God's Word. This Word, he says, if implanted in us, is able to save us. However, it is much like faith - it requires action. "Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." We deceive ourselves concerning our religion if we do not act on what we hear and what we say we believe. If what we believe and hear from God's Word does not affect our life choices, our behavior, and our service to others, we are truly deceived if we think our religion is of value.