Thursday, March 20, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: James 2-3
Key Verse
James 2:23 — “And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.”
Devotional Thought
James paints a scene that any of us might witness on a Sunday morning. The assembly door opens, and in walks a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel. The usher brightens, gestures toward the best seat. Then another figure appears—a poor man in vile raiment—and the same usher waves him toward the footstool, or perhaps the floor. James will not let us look away from this. He calls it what it is: partiality, evil thoughts, sin. The Lord of glory Himself chose the poor of this world to be rich in faith, and we are embarrassed by them in His own house. It is a searching word as we move through Lent, a season that strips away pretense and asks where our hearts truly rest.
But James is not finished with us. He turns from the assembly to the marketplace and asks what good it does to wish a hungry brother well without feeding him. Faith that never moves the hands is dead, he says—as dead as a body without breath. Abraham’s faith was made perfect when he raised the knife over Isaac; Rahab’s faith proved itself when she hid the spies. The devils believe and tremble, yet their belief saves no one. So it is with us: our creeds are only as alive as our mercy.
Then James reaches for the tongue, and the room grows quiet. A bit in a horse’s mouth, a helm on a great ship, a spark in dry grass—small things that steer and destroy. The tongue blesses God and curses men made in His likeness, and James says plainly: these things ought not so to be. Can a fountain pour sweet and bitter from the same spring? The question hangs over every conversation we will have today. In this Lenten season, when we are meant to examine ourselves honestly, the tongue is a good place to begin.
Yet James does not leave us in condemnation. He lifts our eyes to wisdom from above—pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be intreated, full of mercy. This is the wisdom that sows righteousness in peace. It is not cleverness or eloquence; it is the character of Christ formed in ordinary people who show no partiality, whose faith works, whose words heal. The royal law stands: love thy neighbour as thyself. May the Lord of glory find us doing exactly that.
Reflection
- Where in your own life—your church, your friendships, your daily interactions—have you shown partiality toward the wealthy or well-dressed and overlooked the poor whom God has chosen to be rich in faith?
- If someone examined your works this week, would they find evidence of a living faith, or only words? And what does your tongue reveal about the fountain within?
Prayer
Lord of glory, who chose the poor of this world to be rich in faith, forgive us for the partiality that lurks in our hearts and the dead faith that speaks kindly but gives nothing. Tame our tongues, which no man can tame, and let no blessing and cursing flow from the same mouth. Teach us the wisdom from above—pure, peaceable, gentle, full of mercy—so that our works may prove our faith and our words may heal rather than burn. Make us doers of the royal law, loving our neighbour as ourselves, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.