Back Thinking About James

Well I am back in James again. This time I am getting ready to lead a small group of Bethel communter students in a study of James. As you may or may not know James is a book I often refer to as my spiritual comfort food. It is a place I go when I don't know where else to turn. It is interesting that every time I do return there seems to be something new that catches my eye. My current study is proving to be no different. Maybe it is the translation I am reading (The Message) but the last part of chapter 1 struck me differently. I have focused on the last verse or two of the chapter before, but this time I was also drawn to the the verses right before. The context is that we shouldn't just hear God's Word we should do something with it. Let me share a couple of passages that jumped out:

So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life. Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! (James 1:21, 22 MSG)
Anyone who sets himself up as "religious" by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world. (James 1:26, 27 MSG)

To often we listen just enough to find a jumping in point to speak or we listen enough to get angry and speak. More times than not we are simply to listen. Listen to others who need our help or listen to God who is offering solutions. When listen to others take off the "fix it' hat and put on the "help them process it" hat. When listening to God take of the "I know whats best" hat and put on the "humble yourself" hat. I am only begining to process this now. I ponder what this will look like in my own life? How do you respond to these verses? I would love to hear.

The Praxis of Love (pt 4)

This is from a sermon give at East Balsam Baptist Church 9/25/2011 (pt 4)

I want to shift our attention now from loving God with our whole being to loving our neighbor as ourself. There are a couple of questions we needs to ask at this point. First, who is our neighbor? Jesus answered this in a parable about the good Samaritan. To summarize Jesus’ teaching our neighbor are those people in need who we can or do interact with. They might be the person living next door or across the street. It might be your co-worker in the next cubicle. It might be a homeless person you pass by with out even really noticing. It could a be a group of people you could minister to on a missions trip. In short, your neighbor is the person God has placed in your path so that you can love them.

Second, how do you show them love? To be honest I don't know, you need to listen to their story to see how you can love them. Don’t be worried that you won’t be able to help them because if God placed them in your path you will be equipped to serve their needs. It's important to remember that the love we have to share is a love that comes from God. Take a look at what 1 John 4:7 says, "My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God." We are being God's hands and feet as we love our neighbors.

As we thing about how to love our neighbor we might want to think a about the qualities of love that we can apply. Take a look at 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (ESV)

These different qualities of love are the same qualities we need to display to our neighbor for they are the same ones that God displays to us. 1 John 4:7 says God is love, and so if these are qualities of love they are also qualities of God.

For me loving my neighbor is lived out in the passions that God has place on my heart. One way my daughter wants to serve others was by helping to change their flat tires. She wanted to do this driving around the Twin Cities, but I didn't think that was all that safe. However, God knew her desire and has delivered two people (strangers) into our driveway who needed help changing a flat tire and my daughter was there. If you are willing and listening to God, He will bring across your path people who need to be loved in practical ways and he will equip you with the resources you need to show God's love to them.

So what are the take aways today? First, the praxis of love needs to be carried out in relationship. Love is not something that can be carried out in a vacuum. We know that one relationship is with God, but who are the neighbors you can develop relationships with?

Second, when we love God we are to do it with our whole being. How are you showing God you love Him with your passions or heart? What spiritual disciplines are you practicing to draw your soul closer to God? Prayer, meditation, solitude, silence? How are you studying (reading is a discipline, studying is the exercising for your intellect) God's word and other Christian writers? How are you allowing God to transform you?

Finally, how can you show God's love to your neighbor? Have you listened to anyones story lately? Has God been nudging you to interact with someone? What are your gifts and talents that God can use to minister to others? Brandon Heath sings a song “Give Me Your Eyes” and the chorus reads:

Give me your eyes for just one second

Give me your eyes so i can see

Everything that i keep missing

Give me your love for humanity

Give me your arms for the broken hearted

The ones that are far beyond my reach?

Give me your heart for the one's forgotten

Give me your eyes so i can see

You see loving our neighbors is nothing more than looking around with God’s eyes and God’s love looking for those in need of a touch from God through you.

Take some time this week to think about these things and then respond the way God leads you.