A few weeks ago I had a little "situation" with a student and a parent. The student was saying one thing and I was saying another and the parent was upset and it was a big mess. I was so stressed out about this situation because I KNEW THAT I WAS RIGHT! And that was all I could think about, the fact that I was right and that he was wrong and how can I make this parent see my righteousness. It was after about three emails back and forth and many long conversations with my mother( as a sympathetic fellow teacher) and my husband, (the captive audience) that it hit me. My sole focus in trying to work this thing out was myself. And there's the rub.......
Read James 3:13-18
After James completes his first look at the dangers of the tongue he moves on, or I would say, builds on his argument through talking about two different kinds of wisdom. "worldly wisdom" and wisdom from heaven. Wisdom is the source we use to make decisions, both large and small in or daily lives. Some might think of it as reasoning, but we do it daily without even realizing that we are doing it. It becomes more evident of course when making bigger decisions like: how to take care of our money, or career choices, or how to be involved in ministry, but it's just as present in our daily attitudes and thoughts about smaller things like, how we spend a Friday evening, or whether or not there is time for the gym today. What I am trying to say is James 3:13-18 is actually a lesson on how to discern the will of God, and who doesn't want to take a minute to talk about that?
"Discerning God's will for your life" is one of those big Christian catch phrases we like to throw around but we don't often use it in the normal everyday living of life. You use it when you are graduating from college and you need to know what's next, or when you are assessing whether or not you are ready for the responsibility of a family. Every once in a while we will use it when trying to decide what ministry to be involved in at church. But it doesn't often get used when we are thinking about how we treat the people around us or our daily activities and how we spend our time.
When making those smaller decisions, do we consider them to be influenced at all by wisdom? The truth is they all are, the question is really what KIND of wisdom is motivating us? Let's break the two kinds down in a way that we teachers understand...
Take a second make yourself a little chart. (you thought I was going to do all the work for you...) Read through Verse 3:17 and write out the motivations of Heavenly wisdom. Now read through 3:14-15 and write out the motivations of Worldly wisdom.
Now outline the results of both kinds of wisdom. Worldly results 3:16 and 4:1-3. Heavenly results are 3:18.
Take a look are both lists.
On a daily basis how often are we motivated by the wisdom that comes from heaven? How about the latter?
When we think about the problems in our lives, how many of them are a result of following "worldly wisdom"? If we were to change our way of thinking about, look at them through the eyes of heavenly wisdom, would the situation look different?
Back to my situation with the parent. I realized that in my selfish ambition I had made the situation so much worse. If instead I had used Godly wisdom and submissively spoken to the parent admitting that I hadn't spent the time to explain what needed to be explained to their student this would never have been a problem in the first place. Also, in my selfishness I forgot that my motivation for teaching is not myself, it is actually the growth of my student, and by defending myself my student was not growing. Instead they felt uncared for and unimportant. When I stepped back and looked away from myself I saw clearly the wisdom I had used was not from heaven.
When our motivations are driven by envy and selfish ambition the result is always death. However, because there is a good work that God has planted in is there will be Godly wisdom motivating us towards deeds that are done by that wisdom and those deeds lead to, "a harvest of righteousness".
What does a harvest of righteousness look like in your life?
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Week 7--A Restless Evil
Every morning in February my students read a passage about a famous African American as part of their morning work. The other day, as I was getting ready to go over the work with them, I said, “Take out your passages on Arthur Haley.” The students looked confused. I said, with much condescension, “Yes, Alex Haley. You read about him this morning. His name is at the top of the paper.” One bold soul said, “You said Arthur Haley.” My response was, “Well, I have Arthur Mitchell in my desk, I got confused.”
I didn’t laugh. I didn’t apologize. I defended myself and moved on. The reason why is simple: I needed to keep the upper hand in my classroom. If I admitted I was wrong, I might have lost control. At least, that’s what my pride tells me when I find myself in situations like these every day.
It’s easy for teachers to become proud. They are the center of attention. The expectation is that everyone will listen to them (and woe to those who don’t!). Ideally, teachers have all the answers—they have authority. What an ego trip!
And so James begins chapter 3, “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”
James recognized the dangerous way teachers dance with pride. His readers would want to be teachers—they were respected and admired—but James warns that teachers are subject to stricter judgment. As it should be. If I can get an attitude about Alex Haley, imagine the pride that would come with being an "expert" in the faith!
The opening verses of chapter three lay a foundation for one of James’s major themes: humility. We should be humble, because we all make mistakes. A lot of these mistakes are caused by a tiny part of our bodies, our tongues.
James goes on listing small things that have big influences, culminating in verse 8, when he calls the tongue “a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” But we don’t even need to read as far as verse 8 to be overwhelmed—verse 2 does a fine job, “If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man…” All those in favor of giving up and being imperfect say “Aye.”
Why should we try to tame this uncontrollable little beast? The answer is in verses 11 and 12. Salt springs cannot produce fresh water; grapevines can’t bear figs—unless something miraculous happens, unless the One who created them steps in. Our tongues are restless evils, but sometimes, we say the right thing. When this happens, it is a tiny miracle, a reminder that we have Supernatural help dwelling inside us.
Questions:
Have you had a tiny miracle recently, wherein you were able to say the right thing at the right time? Describe.
Why is gossip such a common sin for women? What are some practical ways we can “tame our tongues” and avoid gossip?
In Matthew 15, Jesus says, “What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.'” If our unclean talking comes from our unclean hearts, how can we clean them up?
I didn’t laugh. I didn’t apologize. I defended myself and moved on. The reason why is simple: I needed to keep the upper hand in my classroom. If I admitted I was wrong, I might have lost control. At least, that’s what my pride tells me when I find myself in situations like these every day.
It’s easy for teachers to become proud. They are the center of attention. The expectation is that everyone will listen to them (and woe to those who don’t!). Ideally, teachers have all the answers—they have authority. What an ego trip!
And so James begins chapter 3, “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”
James recognized the dangerous way teachers dance with pride. His readers would want to be teachers—they were respected and admired—but James warns that teachers are subject to stricter judgment. As it should be. If I can get an attitude about Alex Haley, imagine the pride that would come with being an "expert" in the faith!
The opening verses of chapter three lay a foundation for one of James’s major themes: humility. We should be humble, because we all make mistakes. A lot of these mistakes are caused by a tiny part of our bodies, our tongues.
James goes on listing small things that have big influences, culminating in verse 8, when he calls the tongue “a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” But we don’t even need to read as far as verse 8 to be overwhelmed—verse 2 does a fine job, “If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man…” All those in favor of giving up and being imperfect say “Aye.”
Why should we try to tame this uncontrollable little beast? The answer is in verses 11 and 12. Salt springs cannot produce fresh water; grapevines can’t bear figs—unless something miraculous happens, unless the One who created them steps in. Our tongues are restless evils, but sometimes, we say the right thing. When this happens, it is a tiny miracle, a reminder that we have Supernatural help dwelling inside us.
Questions:
Have you had a tiny miracle recently, wherein you were able to say the right thing at the right time? Describe.
Why is gossip such a common sin for women? What are some practical ways we can “tame our tongues” and avoid gossip?
In Matthew 15, Jesus says, “What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.'” If our unclean talking comes from our unclean hearts, how can we clean them up?
Monday, March 1, 2010
Week 6 - Working Out Your Faith
Read James 2:14-26
“Like rain on a cold window, these thoughts pattered against the hard surface of the incontrovertible truth, which was that he must die. I must die. It must end.”
Reading the words above, one might think they are a modern-day description of Jesus’ thoughts as He approached the end of His life. But one would be incorrect. These are the thoughts of Harry Potter near the end of his own 7-book story. And these few lines neither explain nor spoil the story. Few, if any, people would look at a few lines of a novel and claim to understand the whole story. Yet we do this quite often with Scripture, and today’s verses are probable victims of such reading.
It is easy to read this text as James saying that works are the essence of faith. Our desire for laws, rules, and checklists of how we should act would actually enjoy this call to action. If there is a specific way that a Christian acts, then we can know who the Christians are just by watching. And everyone else can know that we are Christians just by seeing us live out those expected actions. It’s so much easier to have a checklist of required works than to deal with heart change and the unquantifiable idea of a relationship with God.
We have to remember that James is the half-brother of Jesus. Everything James writes is influenced by living with His Savior, by seeing Jesus live out the faith & deeds conundrum in perfection. Being the practical man that he was, James is revealing the bare bones of the vine analogy in John 15. Jesus is the vine in which we, as believers, are to abide. When branches are living healthily with their vine, the branches produce fruit. James breaks down this flowery (pun intended) analogy.
Our belief must inform the way we live. A mental ascent to the story of Jesus will not produce works, just as a branch cut from one tree and glued onto another will not produce fruit. However, if we truly believe the Gospel, we must act out of that. We are compelled by God’s grace! The Word implanted in us will bloom into works that reveal our faith.
James is in no way disputing the truth that Paul sets forth in Ephesians 2:8-9 – “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” James is offering a complement. Jesus’ sacrifice alone is the only basis for our justification. And that justification is demonstrated through our actions. Faith and works.
Questions:
- Do you tend to err more to the side of “I am saved by faith alone, no works are needed” or “My works demonstrate my faith – they are necessary” as you think of your spiritual life?
- In verse 16, James writes of someone who reacts to a cold, hungry person with the well-wish “Go in peace, be warmed and filled.” In what ways are we guilty of meeting the needs of others in this way rather than allowing our faith to bloom into works?
- Reflect on the fact that both Abraham, a religious ‘insider,’ and Rahab, an outsider, are said to be considered righteous by their works.
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