Choosing a word for the year has become a January practice for some of us. We have learned to approach it with much thought and prayer and anticipation, because by the end of the year it generally looks quite different than we imagined it would play out, and we have found unexpected joy in how God unfolds a desire we offer up to Him. So we take the time to etch our words in ink and metal; we hang them on our walls and around our necks to remind us; we search out His Words and ask for understanding of what He is doing in our hearts. This seeking to grow in our faith-journey is something all us women who gather each week have in common.
So it is with a sense of purpose that we begin our study through James’ letter to the early Christians– God’s purpose, that is– and the full knowledge that we were intended to be here around this table at this particular point in time. I cannot think of more practical and direct advice for Christ-followers on how to live out our faith than James’ no-nonsense big brother approach, and as I begin through this letter once again, I am filled both with anticipation, and the knowledge of how much I have yet to learn.
James wastes no time diving right into “the testing of your faith” (1:3) and drives straightforwardly through to the possibility of straying in our faith and the need to “turn a sinner from the error of his way” (5:19). From his perspective, growing in your faith is neither easy nor optional. When Jesus talks about abiding in Him, we might get the impression that it is more peaceful, like a cottage in the woods with flower vines growing up the front… something quiet and quaint and soothing. Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” (John 15:9) It sounds like a good place to live.
But in the next verse Jesus explains what abiding means: “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” Abiding is obedience. My obedience is a thing that still stutters and halts, along with trust– sometimes quick and joyful, sometimes wrestling with old pain, sometimes bending my thoughts and choices around His mold with all my strength like red-hot metal on the forge. (But I keep following along after You and keep listening for Your voice… “just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”) I can’t think of a better place to live. But it is not quaint and soothing. It is dying.
And all this giving and dying for what? Again, Jesus spells it out for me: “…apart from me you can do nothing….Ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you….By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples….As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you….that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full….I have called you friends.” (John 15:5,7-9,11,15) If I am going to grow in love and abide in Christ it will take all my effort and all my desire– no careless living or peaceful existing– and yet ironically it will fill me up with the very things I need the most, the things I absolutely cannot live without.
It seems like too often we try to smooth over how rugged the choice to do right can actually be. Maybe we would rather dabble in Christian circles because we like the company, rather than actually “fight the good fight of the faith.” (1 Timothy 6:12) James is not afraid to confront us with the Truth: the life of faith is not for the cautious or for the coward, because love is an all-out business. “What good is it…if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?” (James 2:14) And I can hear Jesus’ words echoing; “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.” (John 15:13-14) Following Christ is going to take everything we have. But it is a choice we will not regret.
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“The abiding believer is the only legitimate believer.” (John MacArthur)
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“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.” (James 1:2-4)