Don't be misled, 

my dear brothers and sisters. 

James 1:16 CEB

Easy to skip over these words from James, but there's 2 things jump out;

James heart for his people. Jesus looked at people with compassion, and James is expressing that here. 

Aroha

Love

Compassion 

Care

He wants good things for his readers, good things for us all these centuries later, because that is God's heart for us. 

"Don't be misled" is a simple reminder that we are easily misled. 

Whether it's the information I focus on, particular news, authors, or people who's views and I absorb uncritically.

I'm misled sometimes by me. 

My own thoughts, & emotions can mislead me, and as this passage from James talks about, so can my desires. 

We can doubt our doubts, challenge our thoughts, invite others in to our tangled hearts, and to do that we need a "we", others who are trustworthy who we can share and walk with.

We need one another. 

James is expressing his care in writing. Maybe that's you too, so do it. 

Maybe it's in some other way, food, a visit, a call, a text, thru music or art or works or a gift, or simply a check in "how are you?"

We need one another and we're in this together.

#James

#inthistogether