NorMel House Devotions

Read James 2:1-13 James starts chapter two with the command not to show favoritism and goes into an explanation of what this means and why we ought not to do it. We are not to judge by appearances and not show partiality to the rich or the poor. This command goes back to the original law in Leviticus 19:15, where it says, “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great but judge your neighbor fairly.” Jesus reiterated this in John 7:24 when He said, “Stop judging by mere appearances and make a right judgement.” James gives us an example of when we might be inclined to favoritism in verses 2-4 when he wrote, “For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes. If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person but you say to the poor one, ‘You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor’ – well, doesn’t this discriminatio...

Read 1 James 1:19-27 James starts off our text with once again calling the readers “my dear brothers”. He reminds them that what he is going to tell them, he is saying in brotherly love. He gives them concise instructions, telling them they ought to be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.” Man’s anger is not the righteous anger of God, but rather a sinful emotion, with sinful reasoning. Our section of text is about guarding our tongues but also our ears because what you absorb and take in affects what comes out. Proverbs 10:19 says, “When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.” We can also turn to Proverbs 17:27 where it says, “Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.” The bible has many more passages about holding our tongues. Wisdom is listening first and thinking before you speak. To be wise, one must listen to God’s word and “put away all filthiness”, as...

  Read James 1:1 – 18 The book of James was most likely written to the early Jewish believers. This is partially due to the use of the phrase, “The Twelve Tribes.” It is believed to have been written by Jesus’s brother James, prior to 50 A.D. because there is no reference to the controversy over Gentile circumcision, but also, because of it’s use of certain Hebrew and Greek words. James writes and addresses the readers as brothers to show that although he has many rebukes for them, he is admonishing them in brotherly love. In verse 2 James directly refers to Christ’s teachings in Matthew 5:11 when he tells the reader, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds…” James goes on to say that the reason for joy is that trials test your faith and develop perseverance. We must learn perseverance in order to attain maturity of faith. God wants us to draw close to Him and when we go through trials we learn to rely on God and learn where our focus should...