Bible Journey > James

I spent a couple of days in the letter of James last week as I continued my journey through the Bible. Here are my thoughts and highlights:

• "You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors."
• God is more concerned with how I love and help others than he is religious talk or rituals.
• Faith is more than talk; faith should be active–it expresses itself through works. There’s a "seamless unity of believing and doing."
• What comes out of our mouths can bless God and build others up. The words we use can also be a curse that destroys people. My words are powerful.
• "You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor."
• God is concerned with the purity of my inner life.
• "If you know the right thing to do and don’t do it, that, for you, is evil." God wants me to do the next right thing. That’s worship.
• Stay true.
• God wants me to have friends–real friends. Through those kinds of friendship, I can admit when I’ve messed up, find prayer support and experience life in community that produces spiritual healing and healthy living.

The bottom line in James is that faith isn’t about the truth I’ve learned–it’s about how I live my life. Wisdom is worthless if I don’t live it out.