Scripture“As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”James 4:16-17 (ESV)  Devotional ReflectionJames concludes by shining a light on the reality of the situation. What we often call confidence, ambition, or self-reliance can sometimes be something much deeper. James calls it arrogance. He calls it ...  Read More

Scripture“Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’”James 4:15 (ESV)Devotional ReflectionAfter exposing the illusion of self-sufficiency, James presents the proper response: submission to the will of God. The phrase "If the Lord wills" is not a Christian slogan to be added to our vocabulary. It is a posture of the heart. James is calling us to a life that is ...  Read More

Scripture“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”James 4:13-14 (ESV)Devotional ReflectionJames begins by examining not merely what people are saying, but what their words re...  Read More

Scripture7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:7-10 (NIV)Devotional ReflectionThe g...  Read More

Scripture4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows fav...  Read More

Scripture1What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. James 4:1...  Read More