I've been searching for a loophole, wondering how I can live both Your way and mine

If you ever want a really depressing night, read old blog posts while listening to an album written by a friend you haven't seen in years. Nostalgic sentiments do strange things to the soul.


This evening, I want to take a look at, in my opinion, one of the most difficult passages of Scripture in the New Testament. Most of this is self-explanatory, but I do want to make note of two things in this chapter:

"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you."
- I have seen and worked for so many "ministers" who make it a point to exalt themselves. Their main focus is getting ahead, getting to the top, being top dog. The harsh reality is, after those men are gone, no one will remember them. No one will remember the witty things they said or the great donations they made publicly to charity. Give it several years, and their names will be all but meaningless. The name of Jesus, on the other hand, has the power of eternity. Moral of the story? You're worthless in the face of eternity without Jesus, so take a reality check and come to the point where you can lay down your pride for the sake of the Kingdom. Once you've reached that point, God can use you in ways you never thought possible.

"Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?"

- At first glance, this passage seems to fly in the face of Paul's admonitions to abolish sin within the body. How can you do that without judging them? Reverend Ron Daniel says this:
"...the Greek scholar Spiros Zohiates sheds some light on this mystery. He writes that the word for "one another" actually "refers to the person and not to the actions of that person." In other words, it is not wrong to say, "He said this and it was a lie." It is not wrong to say, "She did this and it was immoral." But it is wrong to say, "He's a liar through and through." Or, "She is the epitome of carnality." You see, when we do that, we are going beyond judging the actions, and we've begun to judge the person. God alone is able to judge the person, we cannot. We can know what actions and words are sinful, but we cannot know the heart of a man."*
*©2006 Ron Daniel - Any distribution not for profit is permitted


James 4 (English Standard Version)

Warning Against Worldliness

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Boasting About Tomorrow

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"— 14yet 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. 15Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." 16As 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.