I follow UND Fighting Sioux hockey player Rocco Grimaldi on Twitter (go give him a follow: @RGrimaldi23), and recently he started a Bible study group on Twitter and Facebook called Maranatha. Occasionally he posts verses to memorize and passages of Scripture to read. This week we’re going through the book of James two or three times.
Tonight I made it through the entire first chapter. Even though I have read James too many times to count, I got a lot out of it, and rather than keep everything I learned to myself, I thought it would be a wonderful time to revive this Bible blog.
So without any further ado, here are my notes from James 1:
vv. 2-4: According to Blue Letter Bible, steadfastness is “the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings.” Each trial produces more and more steadfastness. With each trial, one is more and more equipped to fulfill one’s God-given purpose and to endure future trials. Each trial strengthens us so that we are ready to face bigger and more challenging trials when they come. Bigger and more challenging trials sure do not sound fun, but God promises not to forsake us, and much good comes from enduring them.
vv. 6-8: Those who doubt are prone to be tossed to and fro by almost anything. Doubters will be thrown in every direction except in the one direction they need to go—to God. That’s why it is pivotal that we found ourselves on the Solid Rock. It is essential that we take faith in all of the Lord’s promises, and how can we stand firm on those promises if we don’t read them in God’s Word and internalize them by committing them to thought and memorization?
vv. 9-11: My experience of growing up in North Dakota has given me a good analogy for these verses. Every summer, we spend all sorts of time, energy, and money on keeping our lawns perfect. We water our lawns time and time again in hope that they will be as green as naturally possible. But inevitably, every year winter comes, and the grass fades to brown and dies. The pursuit of riches is much the same. We invest all sorts of time and energy into building up riches on this earth, but inevitably, death comes, and all of our riches fade away, as they have no eternal significance. Why do we go so hard after something that is just bound to fade away? There is something that will never fade away: our relationship with God and all that flows from it (e.g. the legacy we leave with those in whom we have made an eternal impact). What are you pursuing? Dead grass is neither beautiful nor useful whereas an intimate relationship with the Lord is incomparibly more wonderful and awe-inspiring than the most beautiful flower or most captivating sunset.
vv. 12-14: In ancient times, the victor of a race received a laurel wreath, or in other words, a crown. When one is in a race, particularly a long-distance one, there are going to be all sorts of mental obstacles in the way. Once a runner’s heart starts pumping fast, he or she gets out of breath, and sideaches occur, the runner’s mind is bound to scream things like, “You’d have to be crazy to continue,” and “You can’t go on any further; just stop.” But if the runner stops and gives into that temptation, he or she won’t get the prize. Similarly, as we participate in this race that is the Christian life, we cannot give into the temptation to stop and do what seems easy or what seems pleasurable and best at the time. We must keep running and keep pressing on toward the goal, toward the finish line. Our reward is not in this life. Sure, we experience the blessings of knowing God in the here and now, but our crown, what tops it all off, only comes after we faithfully complete our race.
v. 17 – EVERY good and perfect gift comes from the Father. We have a tendency to think that a lot of our blessings are simply the result of our hard work and talent. But who gave you that talent? Who enabled you to work hard? Who gave you the motivation to work hard? And even more so, who made you, and who made the thing you’ve received? Be grateful, not prideful.
vv. 22-25 – I had just been thinking the past few days about how often we read something convicting in Scripture or hear something challenging in a sermon and think that something in our hearts and lives needs to change but then we just let those thoughts fade away without anything being done about them. Hearing the word only is not likely to produce any positive changes in ourselves and in the world. We need to be doers, not hearers only. I think it is important that when we hear or read something challenging or convicting, we take what I’m going to call “action steps.” We take note of some practical way to implement what’s been brought to mind, and then in the very near future, we take that step. If we don’t do it right away or at least soon afterward, we aren’t likely to ever do it.
v. 27 – Check yourself: Are you a person who is overly concerned with appearing religious and spiritual to others, but if you’re really honest with yourself, you realize your heart really isn’t in the right place, and you don’t really love God or other people? Religion (I hesitate to even use that word because of the negative “I’ll earn my way to God” connotations it’s come to have) isn’t about doing a bunch of things for show and about thinking yourself religious; it’s about following in Christ’s example. What did Christ do? He reached out to the outcasts of this world in love, and He lived a blameless life of holiness. If we call ourselves His followers, we must do the same.
Tags: Bible, James 1, maranatha, Rocco Grimaldi, study
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