The word of God is a continual fountain of instruction to us. Practically every verse contains a plethora of information on the how, what, and the why of God. Virtually the word gives us the mind of God written out before us so that we may live in His complete will. To have God’s mind and thought on any subject actually gives us peace of mind. Paul said in Ephesians 3 that we could understand the word of God when we read it; and by the Holy Spirit, we have comprehension of what we have read. Thus, we are to give attention not only to what God said, but how He said it. If we are diligent to engage our minds and hearts into action from His full instruction, then the desired results will be the reward. For instance, James 3 states that if you desire to become a perfect man, (and who doesn’t) there are specific requirements that are requisite before we can achieve perfection. Verse 2 says, “For we all often stumble and fall and offend in many things. And if anyone does not offend in speech [never says the wrong things], he is fully developed in character and a perfect man, able to control his whole body and to curb his entire nature.” WOW! What a statement! How in the world do you get these requisites fulfilled? In order to approach such a task, you must read the entire instruction in chapter 3. If a perfect man means not offending with your words, then who can come to this? We do not know anyone who never says the wrong thing. We are not familiar with people that have fully developed characters. Some of us have made it past being deliberately mean, but we are still smack-dab in the middle of being inconsiderate. Some have come to the place where they are not continually biting others, but we cannot seem to resist a little jab every now and then just to keep things even. Some may have turned slightly away from a settled rebellion, but instead they just reside now in the land of fixed stubbornness. Who then, are the people that James is talking about here? They are those who have entered into agreement with the word of God. And by that, they are able to control their entire body and able to curb their entire nature. Every instruction we need is in this third chapter to assist us in becoming a perfect man. First, we must admit that we are exactly what the scriptures say we are. And they say that the tongue is a fire, a “world of wickedness set among our members, contaminating and depraving the whole body and the cycle of man’s nature.” Think about that! We have a contaminating body member, our tongue. No one can tame their own tongue, so how do we stop ourselves from setting fires wherever we go? James said, you could turn a horse with a bit and a ship with a rudder. The bit and rudder work from within. Therefore, we must set a bit in our mouth that will guard and watch for our every word. David said, “Put a watch over my mouth O Lord that I might not sin against you.” Second, if we understand that the mouth is where the stumbling begins, and where the sin enters and leaves, then we can turn about our entire situation with having these controls in place. The bit and the watch are the controls of the Holy Spirit working inwardly to tame our tongue. The third thing listed is “unobtrusive humility” which is the proper attitude of true wisdom. Humility puts away all jealousy, envy, contention, rivalry, selfish ambition, that comes from the heart. These things cause us to be in complete “defiance to the Truth.” The last requisite needed to this seemly impossible mission, is the wisdom that descends to us from heaven. It is pure, peace loving, courteous, considerate, and willing to yield to reason. The Amplified Bible says, it is full of compassion, wholehearted, straightforward, and free from doubts and insincerity. And all of this produces a harvest of righteousness, which is conformity to God’s will in thought and deed. There is harmony between individuals, who have undisturbedness, in a peaceful mind free from fears, agitating passions, and moral conflicts (James 3:2-18 Amp.). You can’t have all of that and fire too. Amen.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 18:45:59 +0000
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