Bible League: Living His Word For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.According to James in Chapter 3 of his letter, there are two kinds of wisdom. There is, on the one hand, the wisdom that comes down from heaven above (James 3:17). People that have this kind of wisdom show it by leading good lives, by doing good deeds in humility. There is also, on the other hand, the wisdom that is "earthly, unspiritual, and demonic" (James 3:15). From James' point of view, earthly wisdom is not wise at all, because people that have this kind of "wisdom" tend to be bitterly envious and selfishly ambitious. A person full of envy desires to be like a given person that has achieved success, possessions, advantages, or professional position in life. A person full of "bitter" envy is also intensely antagonistic and hostile to the envied person. The bitterly envious person resents the success and achievements of the one that is envied. People that are bitterly envious often couple their envy with selfish ambition. There's nothing wrong with ambition, but the selfishly ambitious try to leap-frog the envied person that is above them in the pecking order, or discredit the envied person on the same level as them, or stifle the legitimate ambition of the envied person below them that they consider to be a threat. People that are bitterly envious and selfishly ambitious are not showing the wisdom that comes from above, are not leading a good life and not doing good deeds in humility. Instead, they are the cause of much disorder and evil practice. The disorder comes from their attempts to upset the legitimate chain of command and order of authority in a given church or organization. The evil practices come from their use of gossip, slander, lies, and the like in order to achieve their selfish ends. Those that have been gifted with heavenly wisdom, in contrast, are "first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere" (James 3:17). They don't envy the people around them and they respect the proper order of an organization. They don't use evil practices for selfish purposes in those organizations. The bitterly envious and selfishly ambitious people are deeply unhappy, because they intensely want what they do not have and should not have. The truly wise, however, are peacemakers that sow peace and "reap a harvest of righteousness" (James 3:18). Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingJeremiah 29, 30 Jeremiah 29 -- Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles; Message to Shemaiah NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Jeremiah 30 -- God Promises Deliverance from Captivity NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Titus 1 Titus 1 -- Paul Greets Titus and Reiterates His Task on Crete NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.Insight Paul says that his goal is to know Christ, to be like Christ, and to be all Christ has in mind for him. This goal absorbs all of Paul's energy. This is a helpful example for us. Challenge We should not let anything take our eyes off our goal—knowing Christ. With the single-mindedness of an athlete in training, we must lay aside everything harmful and forsake anything that may distract us from being effective Christians. What is holding you back? Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Psalm 51:10 Renew a right spirit within me.A backslider, if there be a spark of life left in him will groan after restoration. In this renewal the same exercise of grace is required as at our conversion. We needed repentance then; we certainly need it now. We wanted faith that we might come to Christ at first; only the like grace can bring us to Jesus now. We wanted a word from the Most High, a word from the lip of the loving One, to end our fears then; we shall soon discover, when under a sense of present sin, that we need it now. No man can be renewed without as real and true a manifestation of the Holy Spirit's energy as he felt at first, because the work is as great, and flesh and blood are as much in the way now as ever they were. Let thy personal weakness, O Christian, be an argument to make thee pray earnestly to thy God for help. Remember, David when he felt himself to be powerless, did not fold his arms or close his lips, but he hastened to the mercy-seat with "renew a right spirit within me." Let not the doctrine that you, unaided, can do nothing, make you sleep; but let it be a goad in your side to drive you with an awful earnestness to Israel's strong Helper. O that you may have grace to plead with God, as though you pleaded for your very life--"Lord, renew a right spirit within me." He who sincerely prays to God to do this, will prove his honesty by using the means through which God works. Be much in prayer; live much upon the Word of God; kill the lusts which have driven your Lord from you; be careful to watch over the future uprisings of sin. The Lord has his own appointed ways; sit by the wayside and you will be ready when he passes by. Continue in all those blessed ordinances which will foster and nourish your dying graces; and, knowing that all the power must proceed from him, cease not to cry, "Renew a right spirit within me." Daily Light on the Daily Path Zechariah 4:6 Then he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts.Isaiah 40:13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, Or as His counselor has informed Him? 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, • and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, • so that no man may boast before God. John 3:8 "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." John 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. Haggai 2:5 'As for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, My Spirit is abiding in your midst; do not fear!' 2 Chronicles 20:15 and he said, "Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the LORD to you, 'Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's. 1 Samuel 17:47 and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD'S and He will give you into our hands." New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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