Taking a break from posting on Job while I pause between Chapter 12 and 13. My oldest is trying to memorize this whole book. What a great goal.

Lesson 3

James 1 :16-21 New King James

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures.

19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

First Impression

I am on day two of our holiday cruise. All I can really think is of my brain sloshing as the boat rocks. But since I am starting the new year off unplugged, I am going to do some habit making.

My latest first impression of this passage is the Father of Lights. It reminds me of President Bush’s Point of Light initiative. I remember little of it as I was focused on college, but I still have it buried in my thoughts somewhere.

16 – How are we deceived? How do we avoid it?

For me, we are first deceived by our sin nature that goes after everything not God. Every other deception is probably a play on this as the world in general and Satan specifically uses our own weaknesses to distract us. The only method we have to avoid it is to purposely focus our decisions on following God. I noticed a part of the Old Testament (probably in Jeremiah based on my reading plan) talks about the simple call to obey.

17 – How in this world can we give glory for every gift we receive from God?

I sense a theme going as my answer is “purposely focus our” words on glorifying God.

What do you like about God being the Father of lights?

I want to see above, but my thought really is how we as believes are lights unto the world and that I like that sense of being a light to sho others God.

How can we glorify the ‘no variation or shadow of turning’ aspect of God?

I have no memory of this discussion (since I am so far behind), but I struggled with how this does not lead to a long biblical discussion as opposed to a story about one’s own life. Maybe it just takes “purposely focus our” story on these aspects.

18 – What does it mean to be ‘brought forth by the word of truth’?

For me, this is when we learn about something in our past while studying the Bible. I actually tried to be good at sarcasm until I learned it was a sin, while reading the Bible.

What does it mean to ‘be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures?

I think of first fruits as giving over to God for Him to use. We had a good year income wise and so we were able to give much more to the church than ever before. Our long history of tithing made doing so more impactful than other years.

19 – Swift, slow, slow – Couldn’t they use a better third word?

Rhetorical.

How does this verse impact your day-to-day life?

The phrase that ran through my head was “It does not.” I have a whole life of trying to filter everything I hear to make sure I do not fall prey to the wrong inputs, i.e. not listen to others. The same for wanting to speak up to avoid having other hear the incorrect thoughts of another, i.e. interject speech. And finally, I just simply get mad really fast. Based on my personality, my upbringing, and God’s help, I try to follow the ideas in this verse, but it can be difficult.

20 – If our wrath does not produce the righteousness of God, what purpose is there for wrath in our life?

None.

21 – All, overflow – As if there were some tolerable amount of wickedness – what suggestions for laying these aside can you give us?

“Purposely focus our” everything on God.

Implanted word, describe how the implanted word saves your soul both literally and figuratively?

One aspect is the one where Christ is the Word and He lives in and saves us via the Holy Spirit upon our decision. The other is how we can use the memorized verses or at least the biblical meaning in our everyday speech with those we encounter. Having read, thought, and prayed about the words in the Bible, we can behave more like Christ.