James
4:11 Don't
speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and
judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God's law. But your job
is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. James 4:12 God
alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to
destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?
Please note where Gossip lies within the world of sin. It is ranked with murder. Why would God be so upset over such disrespect? James 2:8-10 Living Bible (TLB) 8 Yes indeed, it is good when you truly obey our Lord’s command, “You must love and help your neighbors just as much as you love and take care of yourself.” 9 But you are breaking this law of our Lord’s when you favor the rich and fawn over them; it is sin.10 And the person who keeps every law of God but makes one little slip is just as guilty as the person who has broken every law there is.
God is love we need to remember that. It would be very
difficult to love someone who has done you great harm. You may remember the sin
but you are supposed to forgive it. If you use it against that person it would
be breaking God's law. Jesus died on the cross to temporarily forget our sins,
really? No he died on the cross to forgive our sins and whip them away to make
us white as snow. What would it be like
if he were to say to God, did you hear what Dave did today? I think my life
would be mostly over. I know that there are questions around things such as
someone's love one dying prematurely. There is no good answer that covers all
situations on things such as that. To discuss them here would make this a book instead of a blog. All I can say is talk with a pastor and listen to the bible fir
guidance.
TRUST GOD IN MAKING PLANS
James 4:13-17
James
4:13 Look
here, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and
will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit." James 4:14 How
do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning
fog—it's here a little while, then it's gone. James
4:15 What you ought to say is,
"If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that." James 4:16
Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting
is evil. James 4:17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to
do and then not do it.
Life Application New Testament Commentary James maintains the passion of the last section in this new one. The
progression has moved from humbling ourselves and our relationships to God, to
our future and the need to entrust it to God.
This section includes three essential facts of
life that make for good planning:
1. God is in control
2. Life is a daily gift
3. All our going and doing must be carried out with the first two
points in mind.
This section is not an argument against making
careful plans; rather, it is a caution to submit to God, even in our planning.
There is a bottom line here. Put God in your plans. It seems to me that if
you add God and your plans are blessed by him then most likely you will
succeed. If you do not put God in them you are on your own. It is not that they
will not succeed it is will be without God's blessing. There are many
businesses that have come and gone. Would they still be there if God wanted
them to be? I think yes.
4:17 Life Application New Testament Commentary. This verse sums up
all of chapters 1–4 and the entire ethical problem in the whole book of James.
He may be telling these merchants that they know what they should do—that is,
honor God in their business practices. If they ignore that, they sin. In a
broader sense, James adds these words as an admonition for all his readers to
do what he has written: it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not
do it. They have been told, so they have no excuse.
We tend to limit sins to specific acts—doing
wrong. But James tells us that sin is also not doing what is right.
(These two kinds of sin are sometimes called sins of commission and sins of
omission.) It is a sin to lie; it can also be a sin to know the truth and not
tell it. It is a sin to speak evil of someone; it is also a sin to avoid that
person when you know he needs your friendship. We should be willing to help
others as the Holy Spirit guides us. If God has directed you to do a kind act,
to render a service to others, or to restore a relationship—do it. You will
experience a renewed and refreshed vitality to your Christian faith.
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