By Lindsey Jacobi
Scripture Reading: James 1:1-27, James 2:1-26, James 3:1-18, James 4:1-17, James 5:1-20
I’m a person who loves to talk in theoreticals. I love research and digging in and discovering new depths. I love the diligent search of finding just the right word to describe the nuanced, and also indescribable, realities of God and the world. I love considering questions from Scripture that don’t have knowable or concrete answers. I love being surrounded by people who challenge me to think deeply (and sometimes differently) so I can see things from a broader perspective. I love rich discussions about history and doctrine and parsing out ten-dollar theological words.
These are good things—desires woven into me by a good Creator. Still, these exercises are wholly insufficient if I leave them all in the realm of theory. An unused theology is a useless one. It doesn’t matter how many “right” things I think and talk about or how buttoned-up my theology is if I never actually put any of it into practice.
And that is precisely where the book of James comes and steps right on my toes.
You might not want to read James if you aren’t ready to squirm in your seat a bit. James wasn’t interested in a Christian life lived in theory. His words to the scattered first century believers called for the kind of life where belief and action exist in perfect unity. From our speech and our finances to our hardships and treatment of others, James urges us to let the gospel sink into every area of our lives. All of it. In other words, true religion puts our boots on the ground in the world we live in for the sake of those around us. It means our faith is lived out through our works and our work is done in full faith—narrowing the gap between what we say we believe and how we actually live.
Many days, this feels impossible. And yet, part of the gift of us coming to the scriptures repeatedly and consistently is the way God continues to form and shape us into a more wholehearted follower of Jesus, allowing His words to work their way out of us in everything we do. Will you join me on a walk through James as we learn what it looks like to put in the practice the ways of Jesus? Since James didn’t organize his letter in quite the linear format that we often expect, we wanted to read all five chapters at once on Day 1. Starting tomorrow, we’ll move through each passage slowly.
I’m grateful you are walking with us. My prayer is that on the other side of these three weeks you are challenged and encouraged to let these words find purchase in your lived-out faith. In a world and a culture that is ever looking to divide, may we seek to be undivided in heart, word, and deed.
Written by Lindsey Jacobi
One thought on "The Book of James"
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Thomas Mason says:
Lord,
I’m coming to You honestly. When I read this passage, I don’t feel like I can say I see much evidence of these things in my life. I don’t clearly see joy in trials. I don’t always see endurance. Most of all, I feel the questions and confusion that this brings up in me.
But I do know this: I long to become mature and complete. I want to grow. I want my faith to be deeper, steadier, and more real than it is right now. I want You to shape me, even though I often feel unsure of what You are doing.
Sometimes I wonder where You are in the hard things. Sometimes I wonder why growth feels so slow. Sometimes I wonder if anything is really changing in me at all. Please don’t turn away from those questions. Meet me in them. Help me bring my confusion to You instead of feeling like I have to hide it.
If You are using even this season to form something in me, give me grace to trust You. If endurance is growing in ways I cannot yet see, help me not to lose heart. If maturity comes slowly, help me stay with You in the process.
Please make me the kind of person who is whole in You. Not perfect, but rooted. Not pretending, but real. Not hardened by life, but softened and strengthened by Your presence.
I give You my doubts, my longing, and my unfinished heart. Do in me what I cannot do on my own.
Amen.
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