Wednesday June 3

Being raised in Protestant churches, its not a huge surprise that the Epistle of James isn't something that came up very often. I can see why, a lot of it flies right in the face of what Protestant churches try to teach (salvation through faith alone), but it's really a shame because there are some very practical and good stuff in here.

For the church as an organization, I think James is important because it discusses many of the flaws I've seen in the church. For one, it condemns gossip and tells us to control the things we say. We all know how it is, church is probably one of the worst places in the world for gossip and many churches don't even need newsletters, everybody knows everybody else's business anyway. It also talks about favoritism towards some people that just seems natural in our human relations, but is particularly true in church. Bad, bad, bad.

But also, personally, James has some very wise words about the future and endorses a philosophy that I have tried, sometimes unsuccessfully, to live by for a few years now. Too much long-term planning is really a crock. Recently, I've been trying to live by the idea of letting the future take care of itself, because all your plans really don't matter and we have no idea of what is coming next. James said:

But you do not know what will happen tomorrow! Your life is like a mist.

 and he more precisely defines the way we should all try to live:

If the Lord wants, we will live and do this or that

Interesting, no?