Are You Doing What You Should Be?

Good morning and happy Wednesday!

Let me ask you a question. When you look around, where do you think all these internal arguments and quarrels come from? Do you believe they just happen by chance? Think again. You want what you don’t have, so you scheme to get it. You get so jealous about what others have that isn't yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it. You wouldn't think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you'd be asking for what you have no right to. You're spoiled children, each wanting your own way.

You're cheating on God! If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and His way. Let me repeat that: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. As the proverb says, "God is a fiercely jealous lover." And what He gives in love is far better than anything else you'll find. As the Bible says in Proverbs 3:34,

"God opposes the proud
but favors the humble."

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will leave you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Quit experimenting with sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit rock bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Lord; it's the only way you'll get back on your feet.

Don't bad-mouth each other, dear friends. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God. But your job is to obey the ways of God, not to debate over whether some portion of His law really applies to you. God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. Compared to that, what right do you have to judge your neighbor?

My friends, someone who say: "Today or tomorrow we're off to such and such a city for the year. We're going to start a business and make a lot of money." Let me ask you, how do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Have you ever woken up early and seen the morning fog settled over everything? Your life is like that morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that." Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and that kind of boasting accomplishes nothing but to seperate you from God.

In closing, let me leave you with this thought: It is sin to know what you should do and then not do it.

-James