A Life Worthy

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.  Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.  My brothers, this should not be.  Can both fresh and saltwater flow from the same spring?   (James 3:9-11).

We’ve all seen it.

We’ve all done it.

We know exactly what James is talking about.  It is a symptom of the identity crisis we all face.  We belong to Christ, yet the world has its grip on us.  In the midst of the struggles of life, and surrounded by the deception of our enemy, we forget who we are.

So, let me take a moment this morning to remind you…

You are a child of the King of the Universe.  You are the one he thought of before time began.  You are the one he created with his hands, his heart, his breath.  You are the one that he left his throne for.  You are the one that he died for.  You are the one that he rose for.  You are the one he will return for.  You are the one he will spend eternity with.

You are his Beloved.

And so am I.

So…let’s act like it today.  Sound good?

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead (James 2:26).

Talk is cheap.

In the seventh grade I had a bit of a bully problem.  Two large, beefy Neanderthal types decided that it would be fun to wreak havoc upon my person.  When they cornered me on the way home from school, they engaged in a manly chuckle while informing me of their decision to cause me great pain.

“You couldn’t and you wouldn’t,” was my snappy reply.

It was a bad reply…in so many ways.

At twelve years old, I was short, scrawny, and woefully incapable of backing up my big fat mouth.  I learned an important lesson that day—I mean, aside from the need to shed all your school gear, including the alto saxophone and your pride, if you want to achieve maximum escape velocity.  I learned that words are validated by actions.  It doesn’t matter what you say if it’s not matched by what you do.

Is James saying that we are saved by our deeds?  Nope.  There are way too many passages of Scripture that point to our utter inability to save ourselves, that point to the grace by which we are saved.  No, no one was ever saved by their own actions, nor will anyone ever be.

But

The body, devoid of spirit, is empty and useless.

Your faith, devoid of deeds, is empty and useless.

Beloved, God did not save you just for your own sake.  His purpose for the world does not begin and end with you.  You were saved to bring him glory, in this world and the next.  That’s gonna take a little work on your part.

So, as you venture forth into your Friday, be on the lookout for ways, not to earn his grace, but to demonstrate it.

Not to earn his favor, but to share it.

Not to earn his peace, but to walk in it.

Not to earn his love, but to live it.

You’re his, Beloved.

Take action.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world (James 1:27).

Every man for himself.

I’m looking out for Number One.

What’s in it for me?

That’s the attitude of the world, Beloved.  And, as you may have noticed, we live in the world.

When I was a kid, I remember that they used to issue Smog Alerts when the air pollution was particularly bad.  On those days, just breathing the air around you was enough to make your lungs hurt. Heavy exercise could really do some damage to your innards.  The attitude of the world gets into our system, like pollution on a smoggy day.  What can we do about it?

We can use a filter.

God has given us his Word, and it makes a pretty awesome attitude filter.  Breathing through the Word turns the smog of, “Look out for yourself,” into, “Look after the weak and helpless.”

If we want to live A Life Worthy, we need to use that filter constantly, to keep the pollution out.  Kinda feels like an astronaut, wearing his spacesuit as he steps out onto the surface of an alien world.

Actually, that’s pretty accurate.  After all, this world is not our home, is it?

Breathe deep, Beloved—but use your filter.

But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:25).

You can’t just glance at the Word.

You can’t skim it

or skip through it

or toy with it.

It is not a book for light reading and coffee table perusing.

It takes work and demands your respect.

My favorite novel of all time is A Tale of Two Cities.  I very rarely read it.  It’s not that I’m a masochist.  It’s simply that reading the book is a heavy investment.  It takes time and energy and a sweaty cognitive brow.

And it’s totally worth it.

How much more so the Word of God that gives freedom?

I won’t deny it—the Bible is a tough read.  Sure, there are easy parts.  The bits where he tells me I’m his friend and his son and his treasure and that he loves me and will never leave me—those I can read all day.

The parts where he points out my propensity for fearing and falling and failing…those I could just as soon skip.

Except I can’t.

If I’m ever going to be the man that he seems to think I can be, I have to do more than skim—I must stare intently.  I have to do more than read—I must do what it says.

What about you, Beloved?  Will you skim today, or will you spend the sweat to dig deep and do?

It’s a new week, Beloved—make it a worthy one.