James: Chapter Four

Chapter four of the book of James in the Bible starts out with a question: From whence come wars and fightings among you? It then states that we all lust, kill, desire, fight and war, yet we don’t obtain anything because we don’t ask for it. To me, it seems that the Author of the Bible knows us very well. I enjoyed memorizing this chapter because it talks about wars within our members, not judging one another, and following God for the short time we have here on Earth. These are all things that everyone can relate to.

Being a friend of the world means being an enemy of God (verse 4). Something that the world does is covet or lust after things that other people have which causes strife in the family of God. James four gives us the solution to this common problem; we must be humble before God. If we sacrifice our own wants for God’s, He will “give grace unto the humble”. Submitting ourselves is the only way to resist Satan.

In this chapter, we are commanded as Christians not to speak evil of each other. When we do so, we are not only judging our brother, but we are judging God’s Word. Since we are instructed to humble ourselves, we are in no place to bring someone else down since that is solely God’s job. There is only one lawgiver, so who are we to judge another? (verse 12)

Our lives are described as a vapor that appears for a short time and then vanishes away. Since we don’t know what will happen tomorrow, or how much time we have, we are directed not to assume what will take place in the future. This is why we must take every chance we get to share the Gospel or help the needy and show God’s love. But when we do so, we must not rejoice in what we do, but give the glory to God, for all such rejoicing is evil (verse 16).

This chapter has many great reminders for older Christians but also many lessons for newer Christians as well. Preventing discord in our church or family, keeping ourselves from judging our brethren, and remembering how precious life is are commandments that we must continue to read and memorize for a very long time to come.

Author's note: Written for Bible class in high school. Truth from God's Word!