Thoughts on James 3:13-15, with a call to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
If the truth were told, most of us prefer to stay away from dark alleys. There could be monsters there after all, or just as bad, some thuggish robber wannabe with a big club to knock my lights out. An interesting corollary truth is that many of us prefer not to reveal what we are really thinking, preferring noise and “busy”ness and distractions to mask the reality that life can be a real mess, and that we are in need of help. Even the repentant believer in Jesus does well to recognize that she is in need of a Savior! Especially for the believer in Jesus who wishes to delight himself in the Lord, the struggle of daily living can be an uphill workout without much rest. To whom can we turn? We need Jesus!
We are in a battle. Walt Kelly’s comic figure Pogo famous statement “We have met the enemy and he is us” has some truth to it. Our struggle is with our “self”, that flesh that keeps inserting its sensual, selfish nature to disrupt the work of the Spirit. But it’s not only “self,” the struggle is also with the world, the pride of life, the consumerism and cronyism and peer pressure to stay “sane” and “calm, cool, and collected.” And as if “self” and the world was not a big enough dual enemy, we find that the struggle is with our enemy, the devil, who is out to steal, kill, and destroy. We are in a battle, folks, with well-meaning people falling all around us and staying down—defeated, discouraged, and unable to get up anymore.
Now more than ever, we need help. We need the transforming work of Jesus Christ through the Spirit of the Lord in our hearts. If we have ever needed the cross of Jesus Christ to chip away at cold hearts and infuse us with a passion for our Father, we sure do need Him now! Consider these words from the Scriptures: Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. James 3:13-15. There it is again. There is the reality of truth, and then there is the base façade of lies that is earthly (of the world), sensual (“self” and the flesh), devilish (of Satan, who is out to steal, kill, and destroy). If we wish to walk in victory, to get up again when we fall, and if we wish by the grace of God to fall less and less and to live holy lives as we glorify our Father more and more, we must be honest. The fight will only be won through honesty with our Father and with each other, first to recognize that we need Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior, to live a life of a repentant believer, and to be filled with the Spirit. Fight on, brothers and sisters. We are in a battle!
If the truth were told, most of us prefer to stay away from dark alleys. There could be monsters there after all, or just as bad, some thuggish robber wannabe with a big club to knock my lights out. An interesting corollary truth is that many of us prefer not to reveal what we are really thinking, preferring noise and “busy”ness and distractions to mask the reality that life can be a real mess, and that we are in need of help. Even the repentant believer in Jesus does well to recognize that she is in need of a Savior! Especially for the believer in Jesus who wishes to delight himself in the Lord, the struggle of daily living can be an uphill workout without much rest. To whom can we turn? We need Jesus!
We are in a battle. Walt Kelly’s comic figure Pogo famous statement “We have met the enemy and he is us” has some truth to it. Our struggle is with our “self”, that flesh that keeps inserting its sensual, selfish nature to disrupt the work of the Spirit. But it’s not only “self,” the struggle is also with the world, the pride of life, the consumerism and cronyism and peer pressure to stay “sane” and “calm, cool, and collected.” And as if “self” and the world was not a big enough dual enemy, we find that the struggle is with our enemy, the devil, who is out to steal, kill, and destroy. We are in a battle, folks, with well-meaning people falling all around us and staying down—defeated, discouraged, and unable to get up anymore.
Now more than ever, we need help. We need the transforming work of Jesus Christ through the Spirit of the Lord in our hearts. If we have ever needed the cross of Jesus Christ to chip away at cold hearts and infuse us with a passion for our Father, we sure do need Him now! Consider these words from the Scriptures: Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. James 3:13-15. There it is again. There is the reality of truth, and then there is the base façade of lies that is earthly (of the world), sensual (“self” and the flesh), devilish (of Satan, who is out to steal, kill, and destroy). If we wish to walk in victory, to get up again when we fall, and if we wish by the grace of God to fall less and less and to live holy lives as we glorify our Father more and more, we must be honest. The fight will only be won through honesty with our Father and with each other, first to recognize that we need Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior, to live a life of a repentant believer, and to be filled with the Spirit. Fight on, brothers and sisters. We are in a battle!
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