Friday, March 21, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: James 4
Key Verse
James 4:9 — “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.”
Devotional Thought
James is writing to scattered believers, likely Jewish Christians dispersed by persecution, and he wastes no time getting to the heart of their troubles. In James 4, he asks a blunt question: where do wars and fightings come from? His answer is uncomfortable — not from outside enemies, but from the lusts that war within their own members. These are ordinary people in ordinary churches, quarreling over status and possessions, coveting what they cannot have, even killing in their hearts. They ask God for things, but they ask amiss, wanting only to consume it upon their lusts. James calls them adulterers and adulteresses, not because of literal unfaithfulness, but because they have befriended the world and made themselves enemies of God.
Then the passage turns. In verse 6, a door opens: “But he giveth more grace.” God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Notice the sequence James lays out — submit to God, resist the devil, draw near to God, cleanse your hands, purify your hearts, mourn over sin, humble yourselves. This is not a list of hoops to jump through; it is the posture of a soul turning home. The promise is tender: draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Humble yourself, and He shall lift you up.
James then addresses the tongue and the calendar. He warns against speaking evil of one another and judging one another, reminding us there is only one lawgiver, able to save and to destroy. And he confronts the arrogance of planning — “Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain.” He calls our life a vapour, appearing for a little time and then vanishing away. We ought to say, “If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”
Here in late March, as winter loosens its grip and spring begins to show itself, we feel the pull toward new plans and fresh ambitions. Gardens to plant, projects to launch, trips to take. James does not forbid planning; he forbids boasting in it. The vapour of our lives rises briefly in the morning air. Let us hold our plans with open hands, asking God for grace to humble ourselves, to speak gently of others, and to say with sincerity, “If the Lord will.”
Reflection
- Where in your life are you asking God for things “amiss” — wanting only to consume them upon your own lusts — rather than seeking His will?
- If your life is truly a vapour that vanishes, what boasting or self-reliance do you need to lay down before the Lord today?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we come humbly before You, confessing that our quarrels and desires often rise from within, not from without. We have asked amiss and befriended the world. Forgive us. Grant us the grace You promise to the humble. Help us submit to You, resist the devil, draw near to You, and cleanse our hands and hearts. Teach us to speak no evil of our brothers and sisters, to leave judgment to You, the one Lawgiver. Our lives are but a vapour; let us say with honest hearts, “If the Lord will, we shall live and do this, or that.” Lift us up, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.