James 1
1.1 Greetings from James
Here James greets the people who love Jesus.
1 My name is James.
I serve God.
Also I serve the Lord Jesus, who is the Christ.
I greet all of you who love Jesus.
You, God’s people who live all over the world.
1.2-4 Faith and problems
Here James says that everyone has problems.
But problems make you stronger.
Problems help your faith to grow.
2 You are my friends who love Jesus.
I say to you:
You will have various problems.
But, it doesn’t matter.
You must be very happy.
3 Why?
Because your problems help you
- to be stronger and
- have more faith in God.
4 Use your faith to fight against your problems until the end.
Then you will have everything you need for your spiritual life.
1.5-8 God’s Wisdom
Here James says that God
wants to give you wisdom.
You must pray to have wisdom.
5 If you need wisdom then you must pray to God.
God is generous.
He wants to graciously give wisdom to everyone.
6 You must pray with faith in God.
Some people believe:
“God will not give wisdom to me.”
But these people are like the water of the sea.
The wind moves the water from one side to the other.
7-8 These people don’t know what to do or what to think.
They will receive nothing from the Lord.
“If you need wisdom, then you must pray to God.
God is Generous.
He wants to Graciously Give Wisdom to Everyone.”
1.9-11 Rich people and poor people
9 The poor Christian should be happy because God will help the poor person.
10-11 The rich Christian should also be happy because God has shown the rich person to be humble.
The rich person is like a flower.
In the day the sun is hot.
Because of this,
- the plants dry up and
- the flowers fall and are not pretty anymore.
This is an example.
The same thing will happen to the rich person.
While he is busy looking for more money, he will die, just like the flower.
1.12 Have faith in God
Here James explains that
you must have faith in God.
Then you will have victory over your problems.
12 Everyone has problems.
But some people have victory over their problems and continue trusting in God.
God blesses these people.
Afterwards, God will give these people the gift of eternal life.
God promised this gift to everyone who loves him.
1.13-15 Temptations
Here James talks about temptations,
sin, and what happens if you sin.
13 Temptations come.
But you should not say:
This temptation is God’s fault.
Nothing tempts God to do anything bad.
God doesn’t tempt anyone to do anything bad.
14 Temptations come from our own evil thoughts.
These evil thoughts lay a trap for us and push us to do evil actions.
15 Our evil thoughts grow inside our heart and cause us to sin.
Sin
- separates us from God and
- finally kills us.
This is spiritual death.
1.16-21 Other suggestions
Here James gives different
suggestions to help you.
James says that you must believe and
obey the Word of God (the Bible).
16 My friends, some people want to fool you and tell you lies.
You must not believe these people or pay attention to them.
17 God gives everything that is good and perfect.
God created light and there is no darkness in him.
God doesn’t change.
God is always the same.
18 God wanted to give us new life.
How?
Through the message of salvation.
(The message of salvation is true.)
God chose us to be special.
He created everything in the universe.
But people are the most important thing he created.
19 My dear friends, you must understand something.
When other people talk, you must pay attention.
Before speaking, you must think carefully.
You must not get mad.
20 Why? Because the person who is mad does wrong things.
God wants you to do right things.
21 You must not do bad actions.
You must not say bad words.
God put his message in you.
You must do all this:
- be humble,
- believe God’s message, and
- obey God’s message.
In this way, God’s message will save you.
1.22-25 Don’t just listen, also obey
Here James explains why you must obey the law of God.
Some people listen to the law but don’t obey it.
That is bad.
22 Listening to God’s message is enough?
No!
You also must obey God’s message.
Listening but not doing what God says is bad.
It is like fooling yourself.
23 For example:
There are two people.
The first person hears God’s message but doesn’t obey it.
That is like standing in front of a mirror, looking at your face, but not paying attention.
24 As soon as you turn around, you already can’t remember your face.
25 The second person hears God’s message, pays attention, and continues to obey it.
God blesses this person.
This person will be happy and blessed in everything he does.
(Remember, God’s message is perfect and sets people free from sin.)
1.26-27 The faith that God wants
26 Maybe we think,
“I have faith.”
Because of this, we think,
“God is happy with me”.
But maybe we think bad things or say bad words.
That is why God is not happy with our faith.
That kind of faith is useless.
That person is fooling himself.
27 But some people have pure faith, the kind of faith that God the Father likes.
I have 2 examples of the kind of faith that makes God happy:
1. Some children are alone (because they don’t have their parents.)
Some women are alone (because their husbands have already died.)
We must help these children and women.
2. There is evil all around the world.
We must keep ourselves far away from all that evil.