And then there's James.....

I wake up to the beauty of a new day. I hear the sounds of "good morning" coming from the birds...joining in unison are the crickets. I roll over and tell my husband I don't want him to go to work today. I never want him to go to work. I try to convince him that he needs just a few more minutes of "shut-eye," but I see the flight suit coming out of the closet and I know my pleas are futile. After he stumbles out of the room to get ready for the day, I lay in defeat. I reach for my Bible and my Whispers of Hope devotional. Only 7 more days to go, and I am sad that I will be all through with it. "I wonder what God has for me to ponder today," I think to myself. At this time in my life, I am extremely hungry for the Word. In continued awareness of my limited humanness, I ache for God's wisdom. And with every morsel of His Word I taste, I am reminded of just how MIGHTY He is...and how much I desperately need Him in my life.

With anticipation, I turn to Day 63 of my journal, and to my "horror" I see that the morning will be spent with James. "Oh why does it have to be James today, God?? Can't it be David or Job?" I like those guys so much. (I think our Myers-Brigg's letters are the same.) They feel in the same ways that I feel. They cry out to God in the same emotions that I do. (Except the tearing clothes part...I can't do that...I might need that outfit for something important later. Plus, I have shoes that match just perfectly.) They have extreme highs and lows with God. I "dig" their realness. James tends to be so "in your face." And in spending the morning with him, I know I will probably end up muttering that infamous statement of the Christ-follower, "I needed to hear this today."

So with internal whining and complaining, I turn to James. My attitude is poor. I speculate I will have to read something about that today, too. As I scan down the page of scripture, I skim over the heading of Chapter 3..."Taming the Tongue"...and I soooo hope we are not talking about that today. Somewhat relieved, I see that James is going to be talking about "Two Kinds of Wisdom" just a little further down the page, and I know I am all about "wisdom" right now. WHEW!!! That was a close one! I gratefully "dig" in...anxious to rediscover what wisdom truly is.

I love the way the NIV puts it. Listen to this:

"Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy, and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness."

Some people are anti-The Message. I like to read it when I want further understanding of what I read:

13 -16Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here's what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It's the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn't wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn't wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn't wisdom. It's the furthest thing from wisdom—it's animal cunning, devilish conniving. Whenever you're trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others' throats.

17 -18Real wisdom, God's wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.

Oh...this is sooooo good for me to hear. WOW!!! This wisdom criteria laid out by James is really difficult to achieve. I go through the list of characteristics of true wisdom and I realize just how much wisdom must be of God and not of man. Because which of us can say with all certainty that the wisdom we try to share with others is always pure...always peace-loving...always considerate? These characteristics sound a lot like the way Paul ( I like him most of the time, too) describes love in 1 Corinthians 13. Am I "wise" in saying I have a lot of room to grow in the "wisdom" department? Now that is something I can say with all certainty!!!

So, maybe I have been a little hard on James this morning. He is just so "tell it like it is" and he doesn't coddle me with his words. He doesn't pamper me with sensitive tone. Sometimes I need that. Glad God used him for that. Very wise of Him, don't you think?