Here are the directions I gave Sunday as we began studying the book of James as a church. It’s important to remember that James states that he was writing to believers…Jesus Followers…in his letter. Because of that, I believe the following “directions” apply:
Take only the “Medicine” given to you! There is so much practical (and often painfully convicting) direction found in the book of James. There’s no need to feel guilty if you are actually doing OK in an area that James mentioned in his letter. In fact, Sunday I’m going to mention one area in James 2 that I think actionchurch folks are actually doing rather well! No need to be a “spiritual hypochondriac”. If it’s not for you…move on. There’s plenty of other stuff in the book that ALL of us need to deal with…
Don’t give your “Medicine” to others! I know it’s tempting. I know we ALL want to do it sometimes. But, it’s never a good Idea to give your “medicine” out to others. “Re-preaching” something you learned from the book of James to your husband, wife, or that jerk at work probably won’t be very helpful. :-) Besides, true life-changes happen when we take the “prescription” James gave us in 1:22-25. (Look in the “mirror” of Scripture, See the things that need to be changed in OUR lives, and then do what the Bible says)
Take ALL of your “Medicine”! It’s tempting to do what so many people do with antibiotics when it comes to scripture. It’s so easy to begin to apply what the Bible says to sin-sick area of our life…and then…as we begin to feel better…stop doing what is right and fall right back into the same sickness as before-often worse! When you follow that pattern with antibiotics, it leads to drug-resistant diseases. I believe it can also lead to “antidote-resistant” sin…sin that destroys our lives…but sin that we no longer even feel bad about. It’s really important to take all of your medicine…
You now have the “use as directed” fine-print. Hope you’ll read along with us in the book of James. I’ll be talking about Chapter 2 on Sunday.