In yesterday’s post we talked about being Rich in Gold and Silver, and dealt with our personal wealth and,
more importantly, our attitude about it.
Todays’ theme is being Rich in Patience.
The scripture for today is James 5,
verses 7 through 12. We’ll begin as
usual by asking you to pray and then read todays’ Bible passage.
7 Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s
coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and
how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because
the Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t
grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is
standing at the door!
10 Brothers, as an example of patience in the
face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we consider blessed
those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen
what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
The first words we read today were 7
“Be patient and stand firm.” Some people think that patience and inaction
are one in the same. When we are patience
with a person or a situation it is a choice we make. We have the opportunity throughout our day to
be impatient and frustrated or to exhibit patience. It is a deliberate, intentional act. We choose to be patient. For the believer patience is a demonstration
of our belief that God is in control, that God does have the situation in hand
and that God will work out the solution…but we need to stand strong and steady
in our faith…waiting patiently (Psalm
37:7-11) Waiting is something that
people don’t do well in our society.
Just think for a few minutes about our culture. Everything is about instant access to our
friends via instant messaging, cell phones, texts, tweets, etc. We not only can communicate with a printed
message but we can send documents, pictures and even videos complete with
sound. When we wanted to purchase something
in years past we would save up for it, we’d think our purchases over and even
seek advice on the best way to spend our hard earned money but today it’s all
about “I want it and I want it NOW!” Debt
is a huge issue with many people as well as couples. Money is still one of the leading reasons for
divorce. And in todays’ world divorce is
another quick and easy thing we do. Many
people don’t want to take the time to really prepare for the lifetime
commitment known as marriage and, instead, jump into marriage unprepared for
the challenges, stresses and potential pitfalls ahead. And when troubles arise more and more couples
seek divorce and starting over with someone else rather than patiently working
on their marriages to make them better or to save them from ending. It’s a sad thing to see.
James gives a couple examples in todays’ reading. First he speaks of farmers. “See
how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he
is for the autumn and spring rains.”
If any of you are familiar with the life of the farmer it’s all about
waiting. Don’t get me wrong, they work
steadily and put in long days for everything they earn. They wait for the soils to dry and warm up
before they can work the land. Then
conditions have to be right for planting their crops. Then, as those plants grow, they have to
continue to tend them with weed control, fertilizing, sometimes having to use pesticides
to control infestations, and in many parts of the country they even have to
provide water when dry conditions prevail.
There are fears about conditions being too dry, too wet, too cold, or too
hot. There are so many different things
that affect the farmer’s life and work. And
that is only the crops. Dealing with
livestock is another equally time consuming and stressful situation with its
own long list of activities, decisions and efforts requiring tons of patience
as well. James next turns our attention
to patience of a different kind. We read
about it in the next couple verses.
8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the
Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t
grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is
standing at the door!
James turns our attention to patience as it relates to our lives and to
the people around us that we experience on a daily basis. First of all James says that we need to “stand
firm”. That’s speaks of our faith in God
and in Jesus’ sure return. Think about
this for a second. If you knew the Lord
was coming back today, this afternoon, or in the next hour would you change
anything that you were doing, saying or thinking? I’ve often told folks that we need to live
like Jesus is coming back any minute.
That requires our being mindful of him throughout our day, not just
during our morning devotions, daily prayers or whatever other way we stay in touch
with him. We need to patiently wait for
his return because one of these days it will surely happen. We need to always be ready. In verse 9 James warns us about “grumbling
about each other” and says that we will be judged by how we treat others. Jesus said basically the same thing in Matthew
7:1-2
“Do not judge, or you too will be
judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be
judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
I’m sure you’ve
all heard the phrase, “Before you judge someone else you should walk a mile in
their shoes.” Maybe you were taught the
old version credited to American Indians which says “Great Spirit, grant that I
may not criticize my neighbor until I have walked a mile in his moccasins.” Yeah, that’s a cool version too. The bottom line is there is always at least
two sides to every story and when we judge another persons’ behavior without
knowing their side of the story, we could be making a very big mistake. I know I have often been surprised when I
learned the real story about a situation I’ve encountered and made a too hasty
assessment of. This takes me right back
to James 1:19, 20 – “Everyone
should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does
not produce the righteousness that God desires.” You know, if we just applied
that one concept to our relationships this would go a long way in improving
them. (Sounds kinda familiar, doesn’t
it?)
In the next
couple versed of todays’ text James speaks about yet another example of
patience. He speaks about the prophets
and then of Job.
10 Brothers, as an example of patience in the
face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we consider blessed
those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen
what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
When we think about OT prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel we
remember the times in their lives when they went through great trials and they
suffered but they stood their ground and their faithfulness brought them the
blessings. If we are children of God we
should realize that there will be troubles, trials, and difficult times both in
the course of just living on this fallen earth but also as we live out our
faith on a day to day basis. Another
favorite verse of mine is when Jesus tried to warn his people that they would,
indeed, have troubles.
John 16:33 – “In this world you
will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
I just love this verse and share it often. It is such a great encouragement to know that
when we face these troubles, and we will, we don’t have to face them alone. Never alone again! I cling to that idea often. So many times in the lives of people like the
prophets and others of God’s family like Job we see that they, too, clung to
their God no matter what and it got them through the tough times. Watch out, another familiar phrase is rising
to the front of my brain, “Yea, though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil. For
Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy
staff, they comfort me.” Hmmmm,
wonder where those words came from?
Remember, “Never alone again!”
12 Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by
heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,”
no, or you will be condemned.
I think you already know that the “swear” mentioned here isn’t
cursing. It’s when you “swear by”
anything to prove that you are speaking the truth. I hate it when I hear anyone say “Swear to
God” in conversation. Quite often it comes
from the lips of someone who, by all outward appearances, doesn’t talk to God
at all, yet they are calling on His name to prove their honesty. Seems like that is dishonest, isn’t it? James tells us that we should be as good as
our word, that people should learn that they can count on what we say. Let your word be truthful and something to be
trusted. This will carry over into your
faith testimony as well. People should
know that if you said it, they can believe it without question. That’s worth so much to you, and to your
witness.
We’ll stop the post right there and take on the third and final of the “Rich
in” topics next time. I continue to
discover new people who I didn’t know were working through this James
study. If you haven’t made a comment at
the end of a blog or sent a quick email I’d love to hear from you and know that
you are following along with the rest of us.
Please remember to be “Rich in Patience” with those you come in contact
with each day. Yes, that includes that
cashier, the guy checking out your groceries or (Father help me) that person
driving in the car in front of (or beside, or behind) me. See, I’ve got patience issues just like
you. I won’t make a list or this post
could go on a lot longer. Lol
One final comment, please remember…with
Jesus Christ in your heart you are never alone!!!!! God bless.
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