So, I just returned from my family excursion to Europe, and wow was that challenging. It was simply amazing, but having to navigate and 'live' in a country where you don't speak any of the language can cause some serious problems. When I returned home, I had a letter waiting for me from one of my best friends and future roommate Shane McGraw. It was great to hear from him, but what was really neat was the verse that he closed the letter with. It was James 1:21. I have studied James numerous times, each with a varying level of depth, but for some reason, that verse had never stuck out to me. This simple fact cracked a huge smile across my face because I love the depth of the bible. You can read a certain book over and over and still not get everything from it. At any moment, a verse can reveal a new meaning that you had never seen or understood before. And that is what happened with James 1:21. I was so inspired by this verse that I decided I should blog about it. So today, on my fortieth blog post, we will be delving into the book of James, chapter one, verse twenty-one.
Of course, I will begin by posting the verse:
21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
(NIV)
As indicated below the verse, this is the NIV version. When doing some research on a particular verse, one of the things I commonly like to do is look at the verse in different translations, just to see if anything new jumps out at me. On this particular verse, I was caught by The Message translation, so I will post that version also. I will be conducting the rest of this blog based mainly on The Message version, with a few tie backs to the NIV.
19-21Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God's righteousness doesn't grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.
I know that this is James 1:19-21, but I wanted to get the full effect of James 1:21, so I included the two prior verses. Let's begin the breakdown.
In The Message version, the phrase "all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil," immediately jumps out at me. This is an interesting translation of the "moral filth" that James talks about in the NIV version. The first of these two filths is all of our "spoiled virtue" which is an awesome way to describe some of the garbage that is so prevalent in our lives. So many of us know the right way to act, and the right choices to make. In other words, we are virtuous people by nature. We have a desire to act in accordance with God's word, and we yearn to bring glory to Him by our actions. However, because we are human, some of that virtue that we possess becomes "spoiled" by our sin. We fade away, drifting from the Hand of Him who provides for our every need. So, one of the areas that we need to be looking out for in our individual lives is all of our spoiled virtue. Make sure to ask God for forgiveness in the areas that you are seeking him, but fall short (Romans 3:23 - "For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.") This was an interesting reminder of what exactly we need forgiveness for.
The next phrase that really stood out to me in The Message translation was "In simple humility." Since when has humility ever been simple? So many of us including myself struggle with the act of being humble, especially before God. Yet here, James calls us to act in "simple humility." So what does that look like? I think that it looks like two things. I have been doing a study through the book of Isaiah, and I love the way that he puts it in Isaiah 55:8-9. He says:
"8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the Lord.
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."
I thought that this was an incredible call for our humility. Do we stop and think about what God is saying in these verses? Everything about God is so much higher and holier than we could ever wrap our minds around. So in reality, being humble should be something that is simple. "In simple humility" starts with a realization of how much more God is, and from that realization you move onto the second step, and that is the intentional laying down of ones self, not for personal gain, but because you are filled with the knowledge of the what life could be in Christ. When we do these two things, being humble in the presence of Christ is the easiest thing to do in the world.
Finally, this verse ends in fantastic fashion. "let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life." I don't know about you, but the picture of God as a gardener landscaping us with the Word makes me smile and want to dance in praise. It is so encouraging! The fact that God cares enough about us to make a "SALVATION-GARDEN" of our lives is like mind-blowing to me. This feeling is so overwhelming that I really can't even begin to put it into words. So I am just going to let you sit here and let it sink in a bit. If you can, spend a few minutes dwelling in those words. Simply amazing.
That's all I have for this blog. Thanks for tuning in, and for breaking down James 1:21 with me. Remember to rely on God with all of your cares and worries today. "If you knock, the door will be opened." Have a terrrrific Thursday and a great start to your weekend tomorrow!
Buried and Risen in Christ,
Signing Off,
JD
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