Centered

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
James 5 (click the link)


KEY PASSAGE:
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:16, NIV)


REFLECTIONS:
On many workday mornings I begin my day at my desk with a freshly brewed cup of Starbucks coffee provided by my employer. My laptop displays my Bible study notes on 2 large LCD monitors.  I keep my study notes on my thumb drive, very neat and orderly and just right for me to really capture what God has for me in His word. I begin reading James 5. 

"Now listen, you rich people, (I remember Ross Perot’s words to an ACLU gathering) weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. (Hey, that’s upsetting.) Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. (I remember a favorite shirt; its collar had just worn out.) Your gold and silver are corroded. (Hey James, gold doesn’t corrode… that’s why it’s so valuable.) Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. (I’m not sure what to think about that, but it makes me uncomfortable.) You have hoarded wealth in the last days. (My coffee now doesn’t taste as good as it usually does. Maybe I need to take a break and get a warm up.) 

James 5 starts out tough for me because, certainly in a global sense and absolutely in a Biblical sense, I am considered rich. James, if here at my desk, would have some things to say to me. His question to me might go something like… has the Bible displayed on your LCD monitors and off your thumb drive changed your heart or do you just intellectually consume it in some pursuit of understanding? Good question James. Basically, have I allowed God to infiltrate my high tech clean safe cozy life and move me in the direction of God’s heart? 

My last devotional was on Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 gave examples of Biblical characters that lived out their faith through great acts of faith. My take on James and specifically James 5 is that the writer is asking us to live out our faith not necessarily through great acts of faith, but in our daily life events. The central question and challenge is: Do you believe AND live out the Biblical commands, found in the Old and New Testament and called the greatest commandments by Jesus, Matthew 22:36-40— 

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (NIV) 

Our life is to be centered on a love for God. That means focus, dependence, reliance, obedience and faith in God’s goodness, justness, and provision. Out of that love for God we reach out to each other as a community of believers and to the world of non-believers with a desire to make God known. 

Once as part of an adult Sunday school class, the leader turned out the room light, instructed us to make a circle and placed a lit candle in the center. First we faced out and described what we experienced. People described feeling alone and isolated, but knowing that there was a light that lit the room even it wasn’t directly visible. Then we faced in toward the candle and each other. Now we felt community and the candle that lit up the room also lit up all the faces as we together faced the candle and each other. You just couldn’t help but smile as you looked around the room. It was a sweet time that I remember. 

I love the first command as found in Deuteronomy 6:4-8— 

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (NIV)  

I would like to add store it on your thumb drive and display it from your laptop on your LCD monitors, but I’m a nerd. 

Thanks James for the challenges you bring to us through your book. In chapter 5 these challenges are:

• Don’t depend, focus on, or hoard personal wealth. It is temporary.
• Don’t take advantage of those who work for you or provide for you. God has heard their cries.
• Be patient, stand firm God will provide in His time.
• Don’t turn on one another. God knows and sees all.
• Blessings come through perseverance. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
• Have a character so strong that a simple “Yes” or “No” is all that is needed.
• Share your trouble, joy, and sickness with each other and the Lord.
• Confess to each other and pray for your healing to the Lord.
• Elijah was a human like us. But his heart was in tune with God’s and his prayers were effective.
• When someone wanders from the truth, love them enough to confront and bring them back. 

POINT OF ACTION:

Make God part of every moment and everything you do, tough right. Check out Present Perfect: Finding God in the Now by Gregory A. Boyd. Then let that love for the real and present God flow over into your interactions with all those around you. Make your purpose to know God and to make God known.

PRAYER:

God fill our thoughts with you. We surrender our dreams and aspirations to you. Each day help us to better feel your calling to serve those around us. Help us break free from our limited view of You, ourselves and the world around us.

WHO AM I?

My name is David Norris and I grew up a “city” kid in the sprawling suburbs of Atlanta, GA, but was lucky enough to have 2 uncles that had real ranch/farms in the northwest corner of Nebraska. We visited several times as a kid, but I got to work on the ranches in the summers during high school and college. What a change of pace, very refreshing. I loved the outdoors, hard work and learned to patiently wait for the land to yield its valuable crop. If I start telling you a story about Nebraska, be nice, just listen and smile. It will end soon. This picture was taken at my grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary. Guess where I am.