Lesson 2
James 1:9-15 New King James Version
9 Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, 10 but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. 11 For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
First Impression? I was taken aback by the ‘sin, when it is full grown’ part.
9 Why should the lowly glory in his exultation?
I am still not sure why anyone should ever glory in anything they have done. All glory is to be God’s. I wonder if there is something in the translation that I am missing, but so far have not taken the time to dig and do not remember anything from the discussion we had.
10 Why should the rich glory in humiliation?
As always, if we are trying to give glory to God, then when we are humiliated, we can use that to direct attention to God’s blessings and not our having earned anything we have.
10 What does dying have to due with glorying?
Totally missed my misspelling the first time. My cultural background wants to say frodian slip, but I can’t spell that either. But I think the idea here is to realize that anything we have is fleeting even if God did give it to us and that allowing this is permeate through how we treat possessions with help give glory to God. As a poor kid, I always assumed we left everything to our families to help them make up for not being able to make ends meet. My grandparents died with nothing, so once I realized this, I assumed we should do the same. Now that I have experiences outside my poor family, I see a possibility of other ways to glorify God in how we steward our blessings. My kids seem to have their head on straight, so I’ll probably stick with the plan to make them deal with it, but God may learn me yet.
11 How does the rich man fade away in his pursuits?
Again, new life experiences, he just gets too weak to do anything except fight to stay alive. Same as poor people.
9-11 What makes these rich or poor?
The obvious assumption is money. But I asked this question to force us to consider how His other blessings may be opportunities for us to pass on glory.
12 Enduring temptation yields blessing. How often do we think this through?
For me, almost never. The idea is just not to sin and run from it as fast and far as possible. Failure is so prevalent, thinking it through seems dangerous.
12 When is one approved?
Upon accepting Christ as Lord and Savior. That was a softball.
12 What is the crown of life?
Another: Salvation.
12 Where is this promise for those who love Him?
And yet another: the Bible/the Gospels.
13 Is there a practical difference between being tempted and being tempted by God? I have always wondered.
And the reason for the softballs: A head scratcher! I personally accepted my human sin nature as the source of my problems and never really thought to blame God for placing me in situations that might tempt me. I always came away awed at how many times He saved me from myself. But I think this idea that God is tempting us is rooted in our attempt to bring our understanding of who God is down to a level we can reason with. We want to have pride and that is hindered by little things like truth. God is so far beyond us that He understands the lack of need to tempt us. The devil on the other hand is pretty limited and thinks it is a great idea to use our weakness to bring the temptations around us into clear view when we are not paying attention to God.
14 Tempted by our own desires. How often do we understand this aspect of our struggle?
As noted (sorta), the more mature we are, the more we understand that we are the problem and God is the solution. I want a hamburger bun. It is a desire driven by the flesh. My mind wants to avoid flour. Therefore, I balance the wants with which want comes from trying to glory God vs our own flesh.
15 What is not full-grown sin? Is there a line we can walk up to?
This again was the concept of my first impression. I do not understand the concept of not full-grown sin. I do not feel like there is a line we can walk up to and say this is sin and this is not and see a difference. The difference is a coin flip of our motivation being our own or that of the Holy Spirit living within us. I am sure I am missing something here as with the lowly glorifying in their exaltation. I’d like to think today is the day to learn this, but I have at least a little patience.
Written 10/9/23, Posted 11/6