Today I read in James Ch. 2. I was really struck by it in a different sense than I have been before. I was reading it out loud and slowly which helps me. I was trying to follow the train of thought. Before I have always thought James was just sort of 'getting onto' the people, but today I felt like he was pleading or begging them to stop settling for some dead pseudo-faith. To stop fooling themselves and break through to really being alive. Like they were missing the very best part of believing in the life Jesus offers, they were missing the actual living of that life. Their belief needed to be activated. They had all the right ideas but nothing was putting on flesh. The truths were remaining abstractions and never passing into realization.
James is excited about how much he loves to be alive and he sees people missing out on it and he is desperate to bring them into the joy he knows comes with real living.
I'm trying to think of a good illustration for it. Maybe you say you like to ride roller coasters but you never have actually ridden on one. You can talk about what it would be like, you can watch movies about it and you'll have all the information and 'truth' about it, but you wont really know the joy of it till you drive to an amusement park and buy a ticket, wait in line, sit in that seat, buckle in, slowly clink up the first incline, then fly through the track and scream together with the crowd and feel that wind.
I can talk about loving people, I can quote all the verses, I can explain the truths, I can send a check in to someone I've never met to clear my conscience, but I want more than a life of abstraction. I want a life of real contact and joy. That's what I'm feeling from James ch. 1 & 2. It's so funny how things can change. I've always felt like James was a party pooper. Actually, he's trying to start the party for the poopers.
You know, that roller coaster/theme park analogy is straight from 4Him's "The Ride"... I won't tell Alan.
ReplyDeleteMy new Bible titles the section starting at 2:14 "Faith that works."
Also, I really like the analogy of the man in the mirror in Chapter 1... it's like you go look at the mirror and notice that you have food all over your face and your hair's a big mess, but as soon as you turn away (to go clean yourself up) you forget what it is that needs to be done. The Word is the same way, receiving the revelations of God, but not using it to pinpoint your messiness and clean yourself up just means you're sloppy (poopy?).