Study of James: The Best of Both Worlds
Sunday, October 20, 2019
Peace to Live By Study of James: The Best of Both Worlds - Daniel Litton
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James chapter 1, verse 18: “Of his own will [the Father’s own will] he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” (ESV)
We spent quite a lot of time last week talking about things we want in life. We also spent time discussing good things we want in our lives, and how God gives us those things. Today we come to the reasoning behind why God gives us good things. It’s so easy we could miss it if we looked too hard. The reason God gives us good is because he wants to. It’s as simple as that. James said we receive good gifts from the Father’s “own will.”
Yes, the good and perfect things from God are great. Yet, we still have a couple more presents to open here, and there is a greater picture at hand. James said that God “brought us forth by the word of truth” and he also said this is so “that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.” So, here are two more important points.
If God has brought us forth by words he has spoken, that means we use to be something that we aren’t any longer. This reminds us of the famous passage, indeed, the one at the beginning of the Scriptures, namely Genesis chapter 1 where it talks about God bringing Adam forth by words he had spoken. There, it says, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26, ESV). This was something God spoke out loud, apparently to God the Son, to Jesus Christ, when he was creating Adam and Eve. John gives us a different camera angle, remember, when he said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3, ESV).
There is something more to this, though, that I want us to see. And, namely, that’s verse 4 of John chapter 1. It continues, “In him [in Jesus] was life, and the life was the light of men” (ESV). If we want to be one to talk about context of a verse, here is a good opportunity. The context here in the first three verses of John is the beginning, the time before creation and the actual creation of the creation. Following that line of thinking, then, we can conclude that verse 4 is talking about what God originally create in people. Let’s read it again, ““In him [in Jesus] was life, and the life was the light of men” (ESV). So, when God created people, he created life in them, for God, for Jesus, they are life. This life within in them then, let’s call it the image of God, was the light of people—it was what was particularly good about them. As far as I know, nothing has changed with people today.
We see, therefore, that men and women, whether regenerated or not, were created in the image of God and definitely have a capacity for good. It reminds me of what Jor-eL told Superman in the original Superman: The Movie (1978) and in Superman Returns (2006). He said, “They can be a great people, Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you... my only son.” This isn’t too far off for the Christian message, really, the message of reality. Yes, every individual created in God’s image bears God’s likeness, and with that likeness comes a capacity for good. The only problem is, is that there’s this thing called sin that has messed everything up. Now, after Adam and Eve fell, everyone also has the capacity for evil, really, the bend for evil.
Thus begets the need for the problem to be rectified. We know this has been corrected in God giving his own Son to us, for us. He bestows upon us the transformation that each of us need. The only thing we have to do is accept the gift, and then the transformation occurs. This get us back to what James is talking about here. James said that God “brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” You see, we are the firstfruits of all his creatures. That’s because we have both sides of the coin. Those who aren’t in personal relationship with God, who haven’t yet accepted the gift, they have the ‘created in the image of God’ side. We have that side too, but we also have the ‘new creation’ side that the Apostle Paul talked about, and of which I believe James is alluding to here.
We have the best of both worlds. That’s the great thing. We see all kinds of people doing what seems to be good, people of all kinds of religions and beliefs. It’s not that only Christians can do good in our eyes. Anyone can love a spouse, love children, help a friend, contribute to a greater cause, give money, or anything else. When we do these things—we know, that because we are in relationship with the Creator of the Universe, he is going to give us back for what we do. For a person who doesn’t know God, how can they get back from him in the future? It would be like a man who is secretly in love with a woman. If we gives flowers to her, but she doesn’t ever know from where the flowers came, by who they came, then what’s the ultimate point? How could she ever love him back?
It’s important to realize this fact when discussing the Four Levels of Inner-Self. You see, anyone can be found on those levels in some sense. In my messages, I am talking to Christians and about Christians. That’s the focus and theme, the direction, of my messages primarily because I am a Bible teacher. Nonetheless, we know that the characteristics of any of the Four Levels can be displayed by anyone, no matter what their relationship with God is—whether it is existent or non-existent. The point I am making with the Four Levels is to try to be able to identify where we are at, as Christians, in order to grow. I sincerely believe, however, that a person, no matter what characteristics they seem to display to us, can truly only be fulfilled in this life by having a personal relationship with God. A close, intimate one. That’s why I emphasize this a lot in my messages.
I have observed people who seem to be well-rounded characters, who seem to have a lot of good working for them, but who don’t know Jesus Christ. They either don’t believe in him, they believe in another religion, or they believe in God as an impersonal, universal being. I have seen this last one a lot recently. It’s almost as if deism is having a comeback. You will see it a lot in New Age teachings. They believe in God, but you really can’t personally know him. I know this is kind of cliche, but it’s true. It’s true that I think really behind it is the fact that people don’t want to be accountable for sin. The idea is that they want the benefits from God (by the way, which many of them they can receive by living here on the earth in God’s creation; God’s universal principles are available to all; love is available to all) and yet they just list the Bible as another great philosophical book (with some good insights) because if one was to accept it as a whole, you have to accept the sin part of it.
Is that a good thing, though, to accept the sin part of it? I know for me, personally, speaking for myself, I’m not perfect. I think it’s safe to say that goodness is only true on one side of things. It is true that I am inherently good, at least from my perspective. What I mean is that if I am not inherently good, then why did Jesus come all the way down here to the earth and die for my sins. His death for my sake, for everyone’s sake, goes to show human beings have inherent goodness. It’s also true, though, that the mere fact Jesus had to die for our sins also shows inherent badness on the part of each one of us. A penalty had to be payed. Our sin-debts were separating us from God. So, while we are good in that God valued us inasmuch as he died in our place, the other side is that we are bad because of the mere fact he had to die in the first place.
Another part of goodness involves what we see around us in our world, what we see our fellow human beings doing. If we can sin, that invariably means there has to be things which are offensive to the God of the Universe. It would be nice, easy, and perhaps beneficial, to some degree, in the short-term to define what is good and what is bad how I want to see it. We see people, for instance, in relationships who are of the same-sex. We see these people marry sometimes. I have personally known several people who believe in this and practice this, a couple of whom I would call friends. They are kind, upright people. It would be easy to agree that their love-interests are good too. However, God the Creator doesn’t see it that way, and so I have to decide who I want to agree with. This is true in all kinds of areas of behavior that we see in us, and in those around us. Again, this is how we are firstfruits of all of God’s creation, in that we differentiate between the two.
Speaking of this differentiation, James goes on to say in our text today: “Know this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:19, 20, ESV). James touches on behaviors here in how they pertain to how we hear, how we speak, and even any anger that is lurking inside of us.
Surrender is going to have to occur in our minds if we are going to be known as a person who is “quick to hear.” What is the opposite of being quick to hear? The opposite would be quick to speak. That’s what James mentions in the next part of our phrase here: “let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak.” Level Three and Level Four people are already going to be good at this to some degree. Level Two people not so much. It takes a surrendering of one’s own opinions, really pride, in order to practice these behaviors.
If we are self-centered, boastful, or even opinionated (yes, I said opinionated), this may be a real problem for us. Since the self-centered person is focused on themselves, he or she doesn’t want to hear what the other person has to say. If we are quick to brag about this and that, where we are going or what we have done, or what we have accumulated in this world, then again we are focused on ourselves. Even being opinionated is a problem for us. This is because we have strong positions that we want to bequeath to others, and we may care more about them hearing what we have to say instead of us hearing what they have to say. It’s good to check one’s eagerness at the door. This is giving up control of the conversation.
If you have this problem, sometimes you will find that if you stop and listen you will learn something new, and just have a good time in general. Even if you don’t think the person is going to have anything to say that you want to hear, that’s not the point. The point is that we are becoming easygoing and accepting of the person, enjoying the conversation as we listen to them speak, as we take-in what they are saying. I do it all the time, so much so that sometimes I forget, after listening, that I need to speak myself. And that’s true. We need to share with others also, but it’s the eagerness to do so that’s the problem. The eager attitude needs to be surrendered.
Aggravation can be present inside of us when we are not easygoing toward others, when we are not accepting of what they have to say. Some people need to realize that 1) You do not need to agree with everything a person says in order to enjoy a conversation, and 2) It is not your job to correct the person where you see differently or even to necessary offer your view on the subject at hand. We know these problems are common in the Level One and Level Two persons. Faith is being utilized when even though we may not agree with what the person is saying (and even if it is wrong), that regardless the person is a person worth our time and acceptance. Faith is used when we cannot really see it ourselves, but trust that everything is okay regardless.
One of the characteristics of the Level Two person (The Negative Existence) we said is aggravation. Because the person is undeveloped in dealing with their feelings, there is a particular problem with becoming easily angered about this or that in the world, or easily angered with others as they talk to them. The person is self-focused, and the flow of their mindset is in the negative direction. The self-focus obviously leads to thoughts like, “What can I get out of this person?” “What is this person going to say good about me?” “What if this person disagrees with what I am saying?” We can sense the pride behind these statements. Instead of seeing a person as a blessing to us, they are seen as one from whom to personally benefit.
It’s easy to want to see others as wrong, and we ourselves in the right. It can be easy to not be willing to learn from others, assuming that we already know all the answers. When people do in fact criticize us, this can be an opportunity for us to really consider what they have said, to see if there is anything we can learn from the criticism. We often don’t want to admit it, but more often than not there is truth in what people say against us, and there may be something that we could do better if we considered a different way of going about it. Now, people do criticize us out of sheer jealously, just because they don’t like us succeeding where they are not. In those cases, what we learn is about them, not about us. It can also be easier to forgive a person for their criticism when we realize that it is indeed coming from an underlying envy.
Next, James says, “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:21, (ESV)
Now, James in the prior verses was talking about our listening skills, what we say and when we say it, and any aggravation we have in general. He starts this next verse with a “Therefore.” So, we can assume that this verse is talking about the previous verses. We are to get rid of any filthiness and rampant wickedness in our lives as pertains to our general characters then. Literally, James tells us to “put away.” In putting away then, it’s something that we no longer allow to be part of us. How do we do that? Giving up control allows something to become disconnected from us because we no longer embrace it. If we let our bad habits and anger die, if we let those thoughts no longer have their roots in the soil of our minds, then they will die off over time. Again, this is done through the power of surrender.
What might this look like in real life? Basically, if you stop and think about it, all aggravation is tied to a wantingness. It is tied to a desire which hasn’t been met. If we are angry at someone, it is because they have not acted how we thought they should. Sometimes this aggravation is justified, but more often than not it really isn’t. Our ways aren’t always the best ways (hence, self-righteousness). Nevertheless, if we are aggravated in traffic, it is because we are not traveling along as fast as we would like. The wantingness to move faster is not being met. For the wife who is concerned about her husband not spending enough time with her, or given attention to her, it is because the desire for him is not being met.
Therefore, all aggravation has its root in wants and cravings. How do we give up this aggravation, then? You give up aggravation by surrendering to an attitude of wantingness. Whatever want you have needs to be given up because a strong yearning for something to happen blocks out God’s power from flowing. Give up that wish for other people to treat you how you think they should. You will find that, in doing so, people will come to treat you better and better. For the person sitting in traffic, give up the desire to get to work in the fastest amount of time possible. If the wife wanting your husband to spend more time with you, decide you will enjoy the evening regardless of what he does. When your craving has been relinquished—the spiritual block as been removed—and what you really wanted can then come into your life. I know, it sounds backwards, but this is the best way to get what you want.
The second half of this verse is kind of hard because it says we are to “receive with meekness the implanted word.” How do we receive something that is implanted? To me, that doesn’t make sense. In looking at other versions of the Scriptures, it is my conclusion that the verse would probably be more accurately read “receive with meekness the word implanted.” That makes more sense. We receive this word, and in receiving it, it is implanted into us. What word, though? James tells us that it’s the word “which is able to save your souls.” This must mean the Word of God. So, the verse shows us that the Word of God is powerful toward us, in that it has the ability to grow us out, to make us better when carefully studied and considered. This is our meekness, our obedience.
James continues: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.”
James just shared with us an important, pivotal, and key truth that we need to make certain that we understand. Remember, we have to “receive with meekness the word implanted.” We know, or should know by now, that just because we receive the word implanted, that doesn’t mean that it cultivates any fruit into our lives. I love to study. I like to read and reread the same things over and over. In fact, if it’s a particularly good book, I may read it fifteen to twenty times over in order to fully understand it. However, just because I may read it over and over, it isn’t going to do me any good if I don’t put its concepts into practice. If I don’t apply it, if I don’t practice it, I just know it. I become a hearer only, and not a doer.
Let’s not miss that last part of the first sentence there. It says we become deceived when we are a hearer only, and not a doer. Why is this? Because of the core, basic fact that with knowledge comes pride. People think that if they are very knowledgable, that they then are better than most. They think they understand things through and through, and are a better person as a result. It’s not the person who knows, though, who is smart in God’s eyes, or anyone’s eyes really. It is the person who does. A whole entire church of people can understand the Word of God, the Bible, better than most. If they don’t know how to live, and I mean really live it, then they are deceived. Their knowledge has become a stumbling stone for them.
With the Levels of Consciousness that I have presented, there is no real correlation between what a person has learned intellectually and how a person thinks, and therefore acts. So, a person who knows a great deal can be in the Depressed State. A person who doesn’t know as much intellectually can be in the Positive Existence. In other words, what we might call street smarts, or rather proper thinking smarts in regard to self and others, is actually what makes a person better. It’s not intellectual knowledge. Some of the smartest are the most depressed. And yet, there are those who are not as intellectually smart, and they seem to be the ones living the happier, healthier lives.
When we don’t practice the word, we are like who one in the bathroom sees what issues we have in the bathroom mirror. We see the hair needs combed, the face needs shaved, the skin needs makeup, but then we just walk away. We are seers only. We understand the problems. It’s just, we don’t do anything about them. We just walk away. And in reality, we don’t know how to do anything about them. We just have an understanding of what the issues are. It would be like that even though we understand the hair needs combed, we don’t know that a comb exists. Though we understand the face needs shaved, we don’t know how to do it. Though we understand the skin looks ruff, we don’t realize there is this thing called makeup that, once applied, makes us look a whole lot better.
Yes, knowledge of the issues doesn’t do us any good if we don’t know how to work through them, to work them out. Listen to what Jesus is saying today. We’ll pick back up here next week.
- Daniel Litton
Today’s Acknowledgements:
Superman: The Movie (1978) and Superman Returns (2006)
James chapter 1, verse 18: “Of his own will [the Father’s own will] he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” (ESV)
We spent quite a lot of time last week talking about things we want in life. We also spent time discussing good things we want in our lives, and how God gives us those things. Today we come to the reasoning behind why God gives us good things. It’s so easy we could miss it if we looked too hard. The reason God gives us good is because he wants to. It’s as simple as that. James said we receive good gifts from the Father’s “own will.”
Yes, the good and perfect things from God are great. Yet, we still have a couple more presents to open here, and there is a greater picture at hand. James said that God “brought us forth by the word of truth” and he also said this is so “that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.” So, here are two more important points.
If God has brought us forth by words he has spoken, that means we use to be something that we aren’t any longer. This reminds us of the famous passage, indeed, the one at the beginning of the Scriptures, namely Genesis chapter 1 where it talks about God bringing Adam forth by words he had spoken. There, it says, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26, ESV). This was something God spoke out loud, apparently to God the Son, to Jesus Christ, when he was creating Adam and Eve. John gives us a different camera angle, remember, when he said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3, ESV).
There is something more to this, though, that I want us to see. And, namely, that’s verse 4 of John chapter 1. It continues, “In him [in Jesus] was life, and the life was the light of men” (ESV). If we want to be one to talk about context of a verse, here is a good opportunity. The context here in the first three verses of John is the beginning, the time before creation and the actual creation of the creation. Following that line of thinking, then, we can conclude that verse 4 is talking about what God originally create in people. Let’s read it again, ““In him [in Jesus] was life, and the life was the light of men” (ESV). So, when God created people, he created life in them, for God, for Jesus, they are life. This life within in them then, let’s call it the image of God, was the light of people—it was what was particularly good about them. As far as I know, nothing has changed with people today.
We see, therefore, that men and women, whether regenerated or not, were created in the image of God and definitely have a capacity for good. It reminds me of what Jor-eL told Superman in the original Superman: The Movie (1978) and in Superman Returns (2006). He said, “They can be a great people, Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you... my only son.” This isn’t too far off for the Christian message, really, the message of reality. Yes, every individual created in God’s image bears God’s likeness, and with that likeness comes a capacity for good. The only problem is, is that there’s this thing called sin that has messed everything up. Now, after Adam and Eve fell, everyone also has the capacity for evil, really, the bend for evil.
Thus begets the need for the problem to be rectified. We know this has been corrected in God giving his own Son to us, for us. He bestows upon us the transformation that each of us need. The only thing we have to do is accept the gift, and then the transformation occurs. This get us back to what James is talking about here. James said that God “brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” You see, we are the firstfruits of all his creatures. That’s because we have both sides of the coin. Those who aren’t in personal relationship with God, who haven’t yet accepted the gift, they have the ‘created in the image of God’ side. We have that side too, but we also have the ‘new creation’ side that the Apostle Paul talked about, and of which I believe James is alluding to here.
We have the best of both worlds. That’s the great thing. We see all kinds of people doing what seems to be good, people of all kinds of religions and beliefs. It’s not that only Christians can do good in our eyes. Anyone can love a spouse, love children, help a friend, contribute to a greater cause, give money, or anything else. When we do these things—we know, that because we are in relationship with the Creator of the Universe, he is going to give us back for what we do. For a person who doesn’t know God, how can they get back from him in the future? It would be like a man who is secretly in love with a woman. If we gives flowers to her, but she doesn’t ever know from where the flowers came, by who they came, then what’s the ultimate point? How could she ever love him back?
It’s important to realize this fact when discussing the Four Levels of Inner-Self. You see, anyone can be found on those levels in some sense. In my messages, I am talking to Christians and about Christians. That’s the focus and theme, the direction, of my messages primarily because I am a Bible teacher. Nonetheless, we know that the characteristics of any of the Four Levels can be displayed by anyone, no matter what their relationship with God is—whether it is existent or non-existent. The point I am making with the Four Levels is to try to be able to identify where we are at, as Christians, in order to grow. I sincerely believe, however, that a person, no matter what characteristics they seem to display to us, can truly only be fulfilled in this life by having a personal relationship with God. A close, intimate one. That’s why I emphasize this a lot in my messages.
I have observed people who seem to be well-rounded characters, who seem to have a lot of good working for them, but who don’t know Jesus Christ. They either don’t believe in him, they believe in another religion, or they believe in God as an impersonal, universal being. I have seen this last one a lot recently. It’s almost as if deism is having a comeback. You will see it a lot in New Age teachings. They believe in God, but you really can’t personally know him. I know this is kind of cliche, but it’s true. It’s true that I think really behind it is the fact that people don’t want to be accountable for sin. The idea is that they want the benefits from God (by the way, which many of them they can receive by living here on the earth in God’s creation; God’s universal principles are available to all; love is available to all) and yet they just list the Bible as another great philosophical book (with some good insights) because if one was to accept it as a whole, you have to accept the sin part of it.
Is that a good thing, though, to accept the sin part of it? I know for me, personally, speaking for myself, I’m not perfect. I think it’s safe to say that goodness is only true on one side of things. It is true that I am inherently good, at least from my perspective. What I mean is that if I am not inherently good, then why did Jesus come all the way down here to the earth and die for my sins. His death for my sake, for everyone’s sake, goes to show human beings have inherent goodness. It’s also true, though, that the mere fact Jesus had to die for our sins also shows inherent badness on the part of each one of us. A penalty had to be payed. Our sin-debts were separating us from God. So, while we are good in that God valued us inasmuch as he died in our place, the other side is that we are bad because of the mere fact he had to die in the first place.
Another part of goodness involves what we see around us in our world, what we see our fellow human beings doing. If we can sin, that invariably means there has to be things which are offensive to the God of the Universe. It would be nice, easy, and perhaps beneficial, to some degree, in the short-term to define what is good and what is bad how I want to see it. We see people, for instance, in relationships who are of the same-sex. We see these people marry sometimes. I have personally known several people who believe in this and practice this, a couple of whom I would call friends. They are kind, upright people. It would be easy to agree that their love-interests are good too. However, God the Creator doesn’t see it that way, and so I have to decide who I want to agree with. This is true in all kinds of areas of behavior that we see in us, and in those around us. Again, this is how we are firstfruits of all of God’s creation, in that we differentiate between the two.
Speaking of this differentiation, James goes on to say in our text today: “Know this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:19, 20, ESV). James touches on behaviors here in how they pertain to how we hear, how we speak, and even any anger that is lurking inside of us.
Surrender is going to have to occur in our minds if we are going to be known as a person who is “quick to hear.” What is the opposite of being quick to hear? The opposite would be quick to speak. That’s what James mentions in the next part of our phrase here: “let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak.” Level Three and Level Four people are already going to be good at this to some degree. Level Two people not so much. It takes a surrendering of one’s own opinions, really pride, in order to practice these behaviors.
If we are self-centered, boastful, or even opinionated (yes, I said opinionated), this may be a real problem for us. Since the self-centered person is focused on themselves, he or she doesn’t want to hear what the other person has to say. If we are quick to brag about this and that, where we are going or what we have done, or what we have accumulated in this world, then again we are focused on ourselves. Even being opinionated is a problem for us. This is because we have strong positions that we want to bequeath to others, and we may care more about them hearing what we have to say instead of us hearing what they have to say. It’s good to check one’s eagerness at the door. This is giving up control of the conversation.
If you have this problem, sometimes you will find that if you stop and listen you will learn something new, and just have a good time in general. Even if you don’t think the person is going to have anything to say that you want to hear, that’s not the point. The point is that we are becoming easygoing and accepting of the person, enjoying the conversation as we listen to them speak, as we take-in what they are saying. I do it all the time, so much so that sometimes I forget, after listening, that I need to speak myself. And that’s true. We need to share with others also, but it’s the eagerness to do so that’s the problem. The eager attitude needs to be surrendered.
Aggravation can be present inside of us when we are not easygoing toward others, when we are not accepting of what they have to say. Some people need to realize that 1) You do not need to agree with everything a person says in order to enjoy a conversation, and 2) It is not your job to correct the person where you see differently or even to necessary offer your view on the subject at hand. We know these problems are common in the Level One and Level Two persons. Faith is being utilized when even though we may not agree with what the person is saying (and even if it is wrong), that regardless the person is a person worth our time and acceptance. Faith is used when we cannot really see it ourselves, but trust that everything is okay regardless.
One of the characteristics of the Level Two person (The Negative Existence) we said is aggravation. Because the person is undeveloped in dealing with their feelings, there is a particular problem with becoming easily angered about this or that in the world, or easily angered with others as they talk to them. The person is self-focused, and the flow of their mindset is in the negative direction. The self-focus obviously leads to thoughts like, “What can I get out of this person?” “What is this person going to say good about me?” “What if this person disagrees with what I am saying?” We can sense the pride behind these statements. Instead of seeing a person as a blessing to us, they are seen as one from whom to personally benefit.
It’s easy to want to see others as wrong, and we ourselves in the right. It can be easy to not be willing to learn from others, assuming that we already know all the answers. When people do in fact criticize us, this can be an opportunity for us to really consider what they have said, to see if there is anything we can learn from the criticism. We often don’t want to admit it, but more often than not there is truth in what people say against us, and there may be something that we could do better if we considered a different way of going about it. Now, people do criticize us out of sheer jealously, just because they don’t like us succeeding where they are not. In those cases, what we learn is about them, not about us. It can also be easier to forgive a person for their criticism when we realize that it is indeed coming from an underlying envy.
Next, James says, “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:21, (ESV)
Now, James in the prior verses was talking about our listening skills, what we say and when we say it, and any aggravation we have in general. He starts this next verse with a “Therefore.” So, we can assume that this verse is talking about the previous verses. We are to get rid of any filthiness and rampant wickedness in our lives as pertains to our general characters then. Literally, James tells us to “put away.” In putting away then, it’s something that we no longer allow to be part of us. How do we do that? Giving up control allows something to become disconnected from us because we no longer embrace it. If we let our bad habits and anger die, if we let those thoughts no longer have their roots in the soil of our minds, then they will die off over time. Again, this is done through the power of surrender.
What might this look like in real life? Basically, if you stop and think about it, all aggravation is tied to a wantingness. It is tied to a desire which hasn’t been met. If we are angry at someone, it is because they have not acted how we thought they should. Sometimes this aggravation is justified, but more often than not it really isn’t. Our ways aren’t always the best ways (hence, self-righteousness). Nevertheless, if we are aggravated in traffic, it is because we are not traveling along as fast as we would like. The wantingness to move faster is not being met. For the wife who is concerned about her husband not spending enough time with her, or given attention to her, it is because the desire for him is not being met.
Therefore, all aggravation has its root in wants and cravings. How do we give up this aggravation, then? You give up aggravation by surrendering to an attitude of wantingness. Whatever want you have needs to be given up because a strong yearning for something to happen blocks out God’s power from flowing. Give up that wish for other people to treat you how you think they should. You will find that, in doing so, people will come to treat you better and better. For the person sitting in traffic, give up the desire to get to work in the fastest amount of time possible. If the wife wanting your husband to spend more time with you, decide you will enjoy the evening regardless of what he does. When your craving has been relinquished—the spiritual block as been removed—and what you really wanted can then come into your life. I know, it sounds backwards, but this is the best way to get what you want.
The second half of this verse is kind of hard because it says we are to “receive with meekness the implanted word.” How do we receive something that is implanted? To me, that doesn’t make sense. In looking at other versions of the Scriptures, it is my conclusion that the verse would probably be more accurately read “receive with meekness the word implanted.” That makes more sense. We receive this word, and in receiving it, it is implanted into us. What word, though? James tells us that it’s the word “which is able to save your souls.” This must mean the Word of God. So, the verse shows us that the Word of God is powerful toward us, in that it has the ability to grow us out, to make us better when carefully studied and considered. This is our meekness, our obedience.
James continues: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.”
James just shared with us an important, pivotal, and key truth that we need to make certain that we understand. Remember, we have to “receive with meekness the word implanted.” We know, or should know by now, that just because we receive the word implanted, that doesn’t mean that it cultivates any fruit into our lives. I love to study. I like to read and reread the same things over and over. In fact, if it’s a particularly good book, I may read it fifteen to twenty times over in order to fully understand it. However, just because I may read it over and over, it isn’t going to do me any good if I don’t put its concepts into practice. If I don’t apply it, if I don’t practice it, I just know it. I become a hearer only, and not a doer.
Let’s not miss that last part of the first sentence there. It says we become deceived when we are a hearer only, and not a doer. Why is this? Because of the core, basic fact that with knowledge comes pride. People think that if they are very knowledgable, that they then are better than most. They think they understand things through and through, and are a better person as a result. It’s not the person who knows, though, who is smart in God’s eyes, or anyone’s eyes really. It is the person who does. A whole entire church of people can understand the Word of God, the Bible, better than most. If they don’t know how to live, and I mean really live it, then they are deceived. Their knowledge has become a stumbling stone for them.
With the Levels of Consciousness that I have presented, there is no real correlation between what a person has learned intellectually and how a person thinks, and therefore acts. So, a person who knows a great deal can be in the Depressed State. A person who doesn’t know as much intellectually can be in the Positive Existence. In other words, what we might call street smarts, or rather proper thinking smarts in regard to self and others, is actually what makes a person better. It’s not intellectual knowledge. Some of the smartest are the most depressed. And yet, there are those who are not as intellectually smart, and they seem to be the ones living the happier, healthier lives.
When we don’t practice the word, we are like who one in the bathroom sees what issues we have in the bathroom mirror. We see the hair needs combed, the face needs shaved, the skin needs makeup, but then we just walk away. We are seers only. We understand the problems. It’s just, we don’t do anything about them. We just walk away. And in reality, we don’t know how to do anything about them. We just have an understanding of what the issues are. It would be like that even though we understand the hair needs combed, we don’t know that a comb exists. Though we understand the face needs shaved, we don’t know how to do it. Though we understand the skin looks ruff, we don’t realize there is this thing called makeup that, once applied, makes us look a whole lot better.
Yes, knowledge of the issues doesn’t do us any good if we don’t know how to work through them, to work them out. Listen to what Jesus is saying today. We’ll pick back up here next week.
- Daniel Litton
Today’s Acknowledgements:
Superman: The Movie (1978) and Superman Returns (2006)