Yesterday I mentioned John Stott’s encouraging and insightful words on James 4:6:

John Stott writes:

“What comfort there is in this verse! It tells us that God is tirelessly on our side. He never falters in respect of our needs, he always has more grace at hand for us. He is never less than sufficient, he always has more and yet more to give. Whatever we may forfeit when we put self first, we cannot forfeit our salvation, for there is always more grace. No matter what we do to him, he is never beaten. We may play false to the grace of election, contradict the grace of reconciliation, overlook the grace of indwelling – but he gives more grace. Even we were to turn to him and say, ‘What I have received so far is much less than enough, ‘he would reply, ‘Well, you may have more.’ His resources are never at an end, his patience is never exhausted, his initiative never stops, his generosity knows no limit: he gives more grace.”

“But grace, in God, has a correlative in man. James, having pointed to God’s sufficiency, points on to our responsibility.”

I have to tell myself NOT to hear what Stott or James is NOT saying. The grace is there for us. But it is what it is, a gift based solely in God’s goodness and flowing in our obedience, directed toward a holy humility that makes us like Christ. In other words, we aren’t to boast that we have ‘MORE GRACE,’ nor are we to rest on the soft bed of grace. We are to learn, live, and love in it. LIVE STORY TODAY!:)

This is NOT a suggested way to tame the tongue!

“but no human being can tame the  tongue.” James 3:8a. (For the full effect of this blog, please read all of James 3 — it will take you less time than you might spend surfing Facebook:)

A few years ago, my husband and I participated in the excellent Gospel Transformation course by World Harvest Mission. One of the first things we were asked to do was “the tongue exercise.” In this exercise, you tried to go a whole day without “cursing” – that is, without complaining, denigrating, defaming, gossiping or any other sin of the tongue. Within about fifteen minutes I had discovered what a long day it was going to be.

The point of the exercise was to show us how impossible it is to “be good” through human striving. Trying to tame our tongue revealed how desperately we need the power of the gospel of Jesus working in us.

There was just one problem with that for me. I somehow got a message that went like this, “Don’t worry about your tongue. You’re going to screw up all the time. Just ask forgiveness.” I’m pretty sure that was not the point, nor is it the point regarding any of our sin. I am the one who needs “Tongue-Taming for Dummies.”

Let’s return to the short section in James 3:8-12.

Regarding the use of the tongue to curse, James says, “My brethren, he appeals, this ought not to be so” (3:9). John Stott says the word used here appears nowhere else in the New Testament – it means, “intrinsically not right,’ or ‘no way right.’ John Stott goes on to say,

“James makes us face something we can and must do. As he examined the tongue, its place among our bodily faculties, the dangers it threatens, the fearful task of controlling such a restive beast, we may well have found it all too much, far beyond the capacity of our present state of sanctification. But we can make a start here [my emphasis]. Here is something precise, limited, manageable. This is not beyond us; this is something we can tackle. It concerns the way we speak to somebody else about a brother or sister, the way we speak to a brother or sister.” John Stott, Commentary on James

Let us not forget – taming the tongue will not respond to human effort alone. But, as Stott says, “…a different fire from that which ascends from Gehenna descended from heaven to kindle new powers and give new speech to the human tongue.” (Acts 2:2-4). It is this power, the power of resurrection life, that is at work within us.

Want to take the challenge? Try looking for the image of God in your fellow human being today. Note what difference it makes in how you think of them and what you say about them. And yes, we will still blow it. But when we do, let us run, not walk, to the embrace of our forgiving Savior and then be sent out to bless again.

If you’re interested in hearing a great Bible study that has informed a lot of my thinking on this topic, check out Scotty Smith’s study for the women at CCC.

As Advent arrives, I am waiting on glory. I am trying to pay attention to it when I see it (the word, the concept, the demonstrations.) Several days ago, I was reading about the glory of the Lord and its connection to not showing partiality. Listen to what John Stott says in his commentary on James 2:1:

Moses asked the Lord, “I pray thee, show me thy glory.”

“In reply, the Lord, ever prompt to meet the needs of those he loves, promises: ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you my name.”

“…the Lord in effect answered by saying, ‘You will certainly see my glory, for I will come to you myself, reveal my essential goodness and spell out my very nature to you.’” (John Stott, James commentary).

Let us look for the glory of the Lord in this season. He has promised to reveal it, and He has kept His promise.

“In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel.“

some of the creational havoc wreaked by Hurricane Erin

“Well, we just stayed inside and thought happy thoughts.” I will never forget what one woman told me after one of the more famous hurricanes hit Pensacola back in 1995. After repenting of my condescension, I just felt sad. She didn’t know about a God who promises that glory and redemption will come even as part of every trial and temptation. She did not know about asking God that “his name be hallowed” or “his will be done.” Thinking happy thoughts was her form of hope, and in fact, it was a pretty darned hopeful thing to do when I thought about it.

I thought of the great gift of Christian prayer as I read John Stott’s introduction to the Lord’s prayer:

“Do not be like them [the pagans], for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Matthew 6:8

“The reason why Christians are not to pray like pagans is that we believe in the living and true God. We are not to do as they do because we are not to think as they think. On the contrary, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” He is neither ignorant of our needs nor hesitant to meet them. Why, then, should we pray? What is the point of prayer? Let Calvin answer our questions with his customary clarity:

“Believers do not pray with the view to informing God about things unknown to him, or of exciting him to do his duty, or of urging him as though he were reluctant. On the contrary, they pray in order that they may arouse themselves to seek him, that they may exercise their faith in meditating on his promises, that they may relieve themselves from their anxieties by pouring them into his bosom; in a word that they may declare that from him alone they hope and expect, both for themselves, and others, good things.” From John Stott’s Through the Bible through the Year

Something to try:

Pray the Lord’s prayer, slowly, aloud. Or try writing it out. Think about each sentence you are saying and connect it to the cosmos, your community, and your own life. Reflect on God and who He is and what He’s doing in this world. I’d love to hear some of your discoveries in the comments section.

Our Father,

who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done.

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

Lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil,

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,

Forever and ever. Amen

Now, wait a minute. Don’t pick up the phone and call that mom or dad of a newborn and say something like, “You know your baby is dying. You know that great first breath she took — it’s one of her last!” That’s not quite M.Lloyd-Jones’ point. The point is that because of Adam’s sin, our bodies are mortal. But the greater point of verse 10 is that we who are in Christ are ALIVE because of righteousness. We are so alive. So very alive.

And the other good news — our dying and decaying bodies are destined for glory — for resurrection! Stott says, “This does not mean that our dead bodies will be revivified or resuscitated, and so restored to their present material existence, only to die again. No, resurrection includes transformation, the raising and chaning of our body into a new and glorious vehicle of our personality, and its liberation from all frailty, disease, pain, decay, and death. It is ‘not that the spirit is to be freed from the body — as many, under the influence of the Greek way of thinking, have held — but rather the Spirit will give life to the body.”

For further consideration:
What difference does it make to know that while your body is dying, you are made alive by the Spirit?

What difference does it make to know that your body is destined for resurrection, to be “a new and glorious vehicle of our personality’?