Skip to main content
This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
I am writing to the "twelve tribes" - Jewish believers scattered abroad. 
Greetings!
James 1:1 NLT
It's easy to skip this part of the letter and jump into the "important" stuff, but this letter has a context, and the context matters. We're not Jews living somewhere in the world in the first century, so there may be some things here that might be difficult to grasp in our world, things that clash.
Greetings!
This is a letter written by James and while there are differing views on this, tradition is that James is Jesus brother. 
Or "half brother"? 
For anyone with a family of step siblings, siblings with different parents, adopted in some way, you're in good company. 
Who decides what a "normal" family is anyway?
James tell us who he's writing to, and his stance towards God and Jesus. 
He says he is "doulos" a bond-servant without any ownership rights of his own. 
That's quite a thing to say! 
We can be happy to say we're followers of Jesus, but doulos? Servants? 
James seems very happy to let us know that's his stance without putting anything on anyone else, us included, and that seems to be a pretty cool way to be. 
#thisisme

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,  for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see - such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. Colossians 1:15-16 NLT OK so this is an English translation of a letter Paul wrote to a church 2,000 years ago, but does it feel like Paul is wrestling with words and ideas to try and capture all of who Jesus is, of who God is, of how does it work that the walking around Jesus was also there before the beginning of the beginning of everything we can see and touch and know. Not only that but Jesus was somehow the agent of everything that has been made in the physical, social, and spiritual.  Jesus is at the centre of it all.  Walking around Jesus. Cooking fish for breakfast Jesus. Heart aching as he ...
Post a Comment
Read more
As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside privately and told them what was going to happen to him.  "Listen," he said,  "we're going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law.  They will sentence him to die. Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked,  flogged with a whip,  and crucified.  But on the third day he will be raised from the dead." Matthew 20:17-20 NLT Jesus wanted his team, those closest to him, to know what was going to happen next.  It seems he wanted them to be prepared.  To be able to hold the hope of what's at the end as they go through the watching him be betrayed, sentenced, mocked, abused, and killed.  I wonder if Jesus needed to tell them, to let those he knew best what was ahead because he needed them with him. Jesus wanted community in the most difficult of times. It's no wonder that we do too.  We're in...
Post a Comment
Read more
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. James 1:23-24 NASB For many people this is a time of year for a bit of introspection, thinking about the year that was, and what's ahead. James is encouraging us to live out God's Word. Whereever we find ourselves, whatever our circumstances. Its like looking at yourself. You don't forget who you are. The greek word here is "eimi" I am. We don't forget who we are. I am who I am in everything I do. And that's how James wants us to live out God's Word. It's not "hey just don't forget to live out what you've heard", the living out is inseparable from the hearing. #james #james1 #Godsgym #theWordjustliveit
Post a Comment
Read more