The Epistle of James > theology . . . love-ology (c:

com7fy8

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James 1:20 >

"for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God." (James 1:20)

So, from this I see that there is anger and wrath which is not of God, and therefore it is worldly and sinful anger and wrath. So, we need to be able to tell the difference between when we are angry in God's way and when it is sin.

And do not be getting down on ourselves if our anger is wrong, but seek God to correct us. God is able to easily remove evil anger from us and have us trusting how He guides us in His love and joy and peace >

"Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ." (2 Thessalonians 3:5)

God's love has His own power almighty to keep us safe from being violated by wrong anger stuff in us.

Hebrews 12:4-11 talks about how we become because of real correction. God changes our nature, and this more and more makes us immune to how wrong anger would dominate and control us.

God in His anger does what is good. In His anger He is concerned about what is good and He cares about us.

But selfish and ungodly anger can have us being against other people and not caring about them, and not having hope for them > love "hopes all things" (in 1 Corinthians 13:7) < Jesus died on the cross with hope for any wicked person, at all; so we need to feed on this example of Jesus > Ephesians 5:2.

Also, in wrong anger we can be reacting mainly about not having things our own way >

"be content with such things as you have" (in Hebrews 13:5).

If we are busy with seeking to be God's way and do things His way, we won't be so busy with reacting to if people are doing things our way!!

In my case, I can be very self-righteous against people who are a problem for me. So, I need to pray and be still and submit to God and how He changes me into how His love has me caring for people. I need to first value loving more than how I can worry and fuss and fret about the wrong things people do. Also, in my own nasty anger I can misunderstand people; I can just get into anger without finding out what is really going on >

"He who answers a matter before he hears it,
. It is folly and shame to him."
(Proverbs 18:13)

I see how wrong anger can be of a wrong spirit who is able to mess my perception > our Apostle Paul does say there is "the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience." (in Ephesians 2:2) And Satan certainly is a deceiver; so if my anger has me deceived about where my attention needs to be, plus has me misunderstanding people, then I consider that such anger could indeed be of Satan's dishonest and abusive spirit. So, I need to get rid of that sort of anger, and not only think I can find positive and creative ways to express it.

So, I need to get more real in love which has God's light for seeing right. And our Apostle Paul has prayed this for us >

"And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment." (Philippians 1:9)

"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." (Ephesians 4:31-32)

So, yes there are wrath and anger which are wrong; and so we need to put them away from us. Therefore, we should not only try to find ways to express and control wrong anger, but the Bible says to put it away > do not allow it to have any power in us; and do not negotiate with wrong anger . . . like how we need to not negotiate with terrorists!! If anger is taking us away from being "kind" and "tenderhearted" and from "forgiving one another, even as God", then the anger is wrong, and whatever it has us thinking and feeling and deciding is untrustworthy.

So, in case wrong anger is getting the better of us, we need to stop and pray and wait on the LORD to correct and restore us so we are sweetly and sensitively sharing with Him in His peace, then discover how He has us seeing things and what He has us doing with Him in the ruling of His peace in our hearts >

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." (Colossians 3:15)

Oh yes . . . and we have >

"Husbands love your wives and do not be bitter toward them." (Colossians 3:15)

This says not to "be" bitter. This does not say only to act outwardly like we are not bitter, but in us do not "be" bitter. So, in us we are never excused to even start to become bitter inside of ourselves.

And why would we want to excuse what is anti-love?

So, this is good, how we have the living God who has such a high quality standard for us; and God in us is easily able to have us meet His standard. So, we should feed on all which His word means, and trust God to succeed in having us do all that He means by His word (Isaiah 55:11).

Thank You, God our Father, in the name of Jesus Your own Son :)
 
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com7fy8

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:)

James 1:21 >

"Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls." (James 1:21)

I notice how it says the wickedness can overflow. Our cup runs over with whatever is really in our cup, and then can spread to help make others the same way . . . including our children. So, in us we need to be examples . . . in the sight of God . . . at all times, so what is spreading from us is helping others to be conformed to the image of Jesus. And this is easily possible with God. This is about how God is able.

Also, we just fed on how there is wrong anger . . . which is wicked. And it says not to have any "overflow of wickedness". We need to not have wrong anger which is overflowing from us. "Overflow of wickedness" is like a sewer which can not keep in its smelly and disease-causing filth, but it gets out and it makes a major stink. And selfish and nasty and raging and ragging and uncaring anger is included in filth for the flaming sewer which burns with fire and brimstone. And Satan is a sewer bucket of this toxic waste. We need to share with Jesus in being vessels of living and loving and refreshing water :)

We are cups running over, and God is able to make us pure and stable and generously spreading His grace which is the effect of His own love. Whatever we do in love is spreading the effect of God's own love.
 
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com7fy8

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"receive with meekness the implanted word" (in James 1:21)

God wants us to receive His word with "meekness". Jesus is "meek and lowly in heart", we have in Matthew 11:29. And Jesus is so pleasing to our Heavenly Father; so I see here that God wants us to be seeking to please Him like Jesus, in how we receive His word. And Jesus is submissive to our Father, in His "meekness"; so in receiving God's word, God wants us to be submissive to Him and how He has us live His word.

Only in submission to God can we discover how He has us understanding and living His word. There is always God's love meaning of any part of His word :) What God actually does with us is His meaning > it is not only about insight and explanation and self-discipline and conforming and copy-catting and controlling what people do. So, this word is not only for me to use to talk down on others and try to control them and their attention. But I need to be meek, so I am seeking God for Himself and seeking how He has me loving and relating dearly and tenderly with my Jesus love family people while we reach to others with hope for them.

After all, part of Jesus being humble is how Jesus is not conceited. Even though Jesus is so superior to us humans on this earth, still Jesus loves and cares for us tenderly. And so Jesus wants us to feed on this as our example (Matthew 5:46), and find out how His word means for us to love. Jesus and how He is and loves is the real meaning. By becoming like Jesus we discover all God means and desires to share with us.

So, receiving God's word is not only about becoming a Bible knowledge expert >

"Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him." (in 1 Corinthians 8:1-3)

So, this could be why Jesus is called the Word. He is the living and love meaning of God's word. And as Jesus grows in us as our new inner Person (Galatians 4:19), we discover how we become and live >

"Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)

Jesus is "gentle and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29), and God says for us to share and relate

"with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love," (Ephesians 4:2)

So, in Jesus Christ's gentle and lowly love we discover how God means His word. And in the "meekness" of Jesus, we are with one another who are discovering all God means by His word.

Therefore, God means for us to receive His word as family > in sharing with one another. So we need each other >

"speaking the truth in love" that we "may grow up in all things into Him who is the head---Christ---" (in Ephesians 4:15).

So, if we receive God's word with "meekness", this has us being more and more like Jesus, in such sharing with Him our Groom, that we are growing "in all things" (Ephesians 4:15) of God and His love (see Ephesians 1:3), and this in sharing with one another as His family:pray::groupray::prayer::amen::clap::hug:
 
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com7fy8

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James 1:21 says to receive God's word, "which is able to save your souls."

Well, we understand how Jesus already has saved us, if we have trusted in Jesus and all He did on the cross. We trusted in Jesus after hearing His word. So, ones understand that already we have been saved by God's word, through the preaching of the cross.

So, I see how ones could believe James is addressing unsaved people who need to trust in Jesus because of meekly receiving His word, so they can become saved and adopted as children of God.

But Romans 5:10 says,

"For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." (Romans 5:10)

Plus, Paul says to Timothy,

"Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you." (1 Timothy 4:16)

So, Paul is saying even that Timothy needs to save himself! And this by means of "the doctrine", which I understand means God's word.

And even to the Philippians who had been increasing in obedience > Paul says,

"work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." (in Philippians 2:12)

There seem to be two basic ideas about this >

One is that Jesus did all we need, on the cross, in order for us to be saved, and there is nothing more that we can do. There certainly are no works which can help us make sure we go to Heaven.

The other idea which I seem to keep hearing or reading is that, after we start with Jesus, we must do certain things to make sure we stayed saved, or else we could lose our salvation.

I have another idea. Isaiah 55:11 says God's word "shall" do all which God desires. So, first His word has us trust in Jesus, then His word accomplishes all we need for salvation by means of "His life" (Romans 5:10) in us.

What His word starts, His word finishes; so no we can not lose our salvation, but His word "shall" continue to do more and more after first bringing us to trust in Jesus. And this includes how we get our Father's correction > Hebrews 12:4-11 < if ones do not get this correction, "then you are illegitimate and not sons."

But every child of God does get correction, and God's correction succeeds with every one of us, I understand, since Isaiah 55:11 guarantees how God's word "shall" succeed . . . in all He desires, and therefore all God Himself means by His word.

And we can see that this comes with how God's love in us effects our nature >

"Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)

So, the almighty grace of God's love in us (Romans 5:5) changes our nature so we become "as He is" "in this world."

God's correction succeeds in this life, then, to bring His love's perfection. And this is reason for us to have
"boldness in the day of judgment". Because He loves us, He so corrects us so we share with Him in His very own best of everything which is in His love.

So, it is wise not to make deals with
anything less.

Our Father's grace includes His almighty action in us, to produce the correction of His love's perfection >
"in this world", our Apostle John clearly does say, in 1 John 4:17. So, there is no procrastination until a later life, and there is no backdoor salvation without this correction of His grace. And God is committed to doing this with all of us, because He loves us. So depend, then, on Him and not our own selves. And enjoy :)

Be glad that there is no acceptable inferior thing of keeping on being a mess, all our lives. God is easily and breezily and beautifully able to succeed in us, in all His word means to Him.

 
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com7fy8

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Revisiting James 1:22 >

"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." (James 1:22)

I now think of how God's word has His love meaning. With Him in His love we discover all He really means . . . how He has us becoming in His love and how He has us loving and what He has us doing > in sharing with Him in His peace >

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." (Colossians 3:15)

To me, now, this means we need to always prayerfully sense for and personally submit to how our Heavenly Father rules us in His very own peace in us. And so we discover how He really desires for us to do His word :)
 
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com7fy8

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James 1:23-24 > this, I understand, says that if a man hears God's word but does not do it, then this man is like a guy who sees himself in a mirror, and then he takes off and forgets "what kind of man he was."

So, from this I consider that God's word is like a mirror to show us how we are, in comparison with how His word says we need to become and live . . . love. Often, now, I compare what God's word says, with how I am or am not being and living and relating in love. And, of course, the emphasis needs to be on how God is able to change us and have us living the way His word means to Him . . . not only how we can try to get ourselves to do things. We submit ourselves to Him, for how He is able to do so better with us, than we can now think and hope and try.


Am I being pleasing to our Heavenly Father, like Jesus is? It is clear that God desires for us to be pleasing to Him like His own Son is so pleasing . . . more and more, with correction and the perfection of His love making us like Jesus >

"And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma." (Ephesians 5:2)

So, I can see that Jesus Himself is our mirror, showing how we are but also how we can become :)


And this includes what 1 Peter 3:4 says >

"rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." (1 Peter 3:4)

So, His word gives us very important things about how to be. The Sermon on the Mount, in the Beatitudes, has a number of things about how to be . . . right at the start of Christ's Sermon on the Mount. So, He does not want only actions and gestures, but how to become in our nature >


"poor in spirit" > Matthew 5:3

"meek" > Matthew 5:5

"merciful" > Matthew 5:7

"pure in heart" > Matthew 5:8

These are at the beginning of Jesus Christ's Sermon on the Mount. When He started preaching, He could have said anything, at all, which He considered to be important and worthwhile to say, and the first things He says include these things about how to be.


So, yes there are things which our Lord and Savior and Groom Jesus desires for us to do, but we have Bible basics of how Jesus wants us to be while we do caring and sharing things >

"poor in spirit", "meek", "merciful", and "pure in heart" is how we become in God's love.
 
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com7fy8

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James 1:25 >

"But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does." (James 1:25)

Each time I read this, I wonder what "the perfect law of liberty" is. I think there is more than I might now know and experience, even if I have gotten started in this :)

Jesus has made us free "from the law of sin and death" > Romans 8:2.

There are laws which are written, and laws of nature, and I understand that there are laws of how things work spiritually. In the case of "the law of sin and death", I would say, there is the way things work; this is not just a written law > in sin one keeps on being unable to truly love, really be satisfied, be alive in love, and the person keeps being dragged down and dominated by different sorts of angry reacting and dictatorial drives . . . lusts . . . for different sorts of pleasures, and then wasted and not satisfied.

But the "perfect law of liberty" has to do with how we become and live in the almighty power of God's love :clap::amen::angel::holy:^_^:pray::prayer::wave::groupray::oldthumbsup:

Among other things >

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)

So, in God's love we share with Him in His almighty immunity to make us free from how evil things would overpower and control us.

And in God's love we share with our Creator in His own creativity so we do what is best in relating with impossible people. Instead of being under the power of evil people to get us shut down and nasty in angry reacting, for example, with God we create His good >

"for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God." (James 1:20)

We become free of how anger would drag us around and use us and waste us. We can live free of how ego will always make us fail, somehow. God's love never runs out, and is always creative.

And we need one another; our Heavenly Father does not do things with us as individuals, lone heroes. But we are in family, in God's family caring and sharing love; so our liberty has things work right and best in sharing with one another, including by learning how to relate with one another in mutual submission (Ephesians 5:21), "without complaining and disputing" (Philippians 2:14-16), and "with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love," (Ephesians 4:2)

And, of course, forgiving is essential to staying free and in God's love.
 
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com7fy8

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"he who looks into the perfect law of liberty" (in James 1:25)

I now think of how Jesus says not to look with lust at a woman. Instead look into the perfect law of liberty. Look into how we can be free from useless and vain and foolish lusts which degrade us and dominate us. Be free in Jesus love which has "incorruptible beauty" > making us free from being corrupted by lusts and nasty angry reacting and anxiety and unforgiveness and suffering in lingering hurts and boredom and loneliness which dominate and drag us into seeking pleasure for some feeling of relief . . . when Jesus would be giving us "rest for your souls." (in Matthew 11:28-30)

And we can be freely loving, freely sharing with our Father while submitting to how He rules us in His own peace in our hearts >

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." (Colossians 3:15)
 
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com7fy8

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"If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless." (James 1:26)

"religious" > can mean ceremonial; I would say it can mean going along with set practices which are supposed to mean something. In the Bible Greek, it seems the word is related to a word which can mean "clamor" . . . possibly making a racket. So, yes, I can see a person acting religious can be making a commotion.

"deceives his own heart" > yes, it is possible to fool one's own self > I can fool my own self and not even know this; but God is able to communicate with me and correct me.

"does not bridle his tongue" > it might not be obvious that I do not control my tongue, but in my imagination I can be speaking wrong things, not of compassion and not first about pleasing God.
 
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com7fy8

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"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." (James 1:27)

According to how I understand my Strong's Concordance Greek dictionary, the Greek Bible word for "religion" means observing of ceremony. But, of course, helping orphans and widows is not a ceremony thing the way we usually understand ceremony to mean.

But I consider that ceremony can be something we hold ourselves to, and value very highly for how we do things. It is what we are devoted to and committed to and do not want to change from doing it. So, in this way, I see how religion can be what a worldly person does, but also it can refer to how we Jesus people live.

We help orphans and widows. And this includes helping and visiting seniors. The mothers and fathers of most seniors have died; so this would make them orphans, even though they are not little children. I am a seventy-year-old orphan; so thank you for visiting me, here :) . . . and for visiting with the rest of us, here.

But people can want to stay away from older people, because they fear seeing how they themselves could become less healthy and less handsome or beautiful and not so strong and able to do things. But this fear is anti-love. We need to be strong in God's love so we do not fear how we can become in our older age, and so we can be interested in sharing with people who are older than we are.

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)

Also, Jesus says His grace is sufficient for us (2 Corinthians 12:7-15, Philippians 4:11-13); in any situation or condition we can be real with God in His love; with God, we can do the caring and kind things and tender and personal sharing which we can enjoy with God and one another. And this is more and more, as we grow, even though we might be getting older >

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day." (2 Corinthians 4:16)

So, in order to truly love any and all people, and to visit and help and share with people who have troubles and who might be less healthy than we are, we need to be strong in love so this world can not spot us with unloving stuff in us.

This is part of the meaning of not letting ourselves be spotted by this world . . . keeping ourselves "unspotted from the world."

Among other things, this includes not being spoiled and degraded by beauty discrimination. As we get older, ones of us can start to worry about how we do not look as nice and cute like while we were younger. But this is because beauty discrimination of this world has brought us up to evaluate people by how they look attractive or not so exactly. And ones see how in this evil world our looks can effect if others accept us and love us.

But in case someone does not know how to love you, because the person has a beauty discrimination problem, we can be examples to people who do not know how to love. And do not allow Satan to spot us with shame and fear and loneliness >

"nor give place to the devil." (Ephesians 4:27)

There are people who can have less love and affection for ones not so nice looking. This is anti-love, then, very degrading and ruining so we could miss out on the kind of love and intimacy we could have. Because if we have character which makes us able to give in to beauty discrimination, this unloving character can also effect how well we can share even with people we feel that we love.

"For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?" (in Matthew 5:46)

Also Luke 16:10 shows that how we are in what is less is how we will be with what is more important. If our character is unloving for one person, this same character can also work overtime against how well we share with our loved ones.


Not to mention, we need our seniors to be mature examples of how to be in love; we need to see and feed on how they do not let older age have power over them to degrade them into shame and fear and bitterness. But in God's love, they grow ever more creative, with better ability, even.

After all, if we have been growing truly in Jesus, in our older years we are much more real in God's love so we can have the best of love life with God and one another, better than we ever have had; because God in us keeps giving "increase" (1 Corinthians 3:6-7). So, we need seniors who are examples and samples of this :)


And so our younger Jesus people need to share with and help such mature seniors, so they can feed on their example and learn how to be with God and how to love in close relationships . . . so they can succeed in marriage and also be "tenderhearted" in other intimate sharing > Ephesians 4:31-5:2 < with all our Jesus family people :)
 
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Welcome to 2018 :) Now we are starting James chapter two.

"My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality." (James 2:1)

This sounds corrective, but James speaks to us as "brethren". So, I see, he means to talk with us as his own family in Jesus . . . not to talk down to us, like he is superior . . . like I can do.

And he calls Jesus "our Lord". So, here he is confirming that Jesus Christ is the Lord of all. This is important, not to take for granted.


And he says Jesus is "the Lord of glory". This can mean how Jesus is the One who has real glory. So, it does not matter how humans might look glorious in beauty or intelligence or military power. Their glory and their riches are nothing compared with Jesus . . . in His love >


We can see how ones can have great glory in the eyes of other humans, but how much love do those so-glorious people personally share with the ones who so greatly praise and honor them?

We need personal sharing, tender in God's love. And we need to not have any "partiality" . . . favoritism . . . about whom we love. Our Father is about family affection and caring and sharing > "tenderhearted" (in Ephesians 4:31-32). And in a family, it is best how everyone is equally loved. So, if James says not to have "partiality", this can mainly mean sharing with one another as God's family :)
 
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James 2:2-4 talks about how not to judge "with partiality" (in James 2:1). An example is if one person comes into church with expensive and fancy clothing, but another is not well dressed. We are not to show more favor to the well-dressed person. But God loves us all.

And I think we need to not favor people because they are more beautiful looking or more handsome than others. But love everyone.
 
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com7fy8

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James 2:5-7 >

The poor are called to be "rich in faith".

James says the rich drag the poor into courts, and the rich blaspheme the noble name of Jesus. And they oppress the poor.

But Paul presents Philemon as being a rich man and a good example; so I can see James does not mean any and all people who are well-to-do.

Our Apostle Paul says we need "faith working through love", in Galatians 5:6. So, faith has to do with how God has us loving, and I would say how His love effects our nature to become "as He is" "in this world" (in 1 John 4:17).

Whether we are more or less well-to-do, what matters is how we are about it >

"Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" (Hebrews 13:5)

It's not how much you have, but how much you can do with it.
 
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It's not how much you have, but how much you can do with it.
In this section of scripture, James is talking about the poor and the rich and how rich people have been treating the poor badly.

But we know how Abraham was rich, but he was of God and pleasing to the Father. And Abraham offered up his son Isaac, in obedience to God. And what does the LORD say to Abraham, about how he obeyed God, like this? >

"'In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.'" (Genesis 22:18)

So, the obedience of Abraham is part of God's historical reason why "all the nations of the earth" have been "blessed".

And how much did Abraham's riches have to do with this?

So, I can see that any person . . . poor or rich . . . can get many people blessed, simply by obeying God. And so, every one of us is this important - - just as we are, in any situation.

So, let's go on with this chapter >

"If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you do well;" (James 2:8)

So, here is a basic of how to obey the LORD, then, in order to get many people blessed!!! The way to be important, then, includes simply obeying the LORD; and this includes loving others as ourselves.

But you may think that loving others is not making an obedient sacrifice the way Abraham did, by offering up his so dearly loved son, Isaac.

Well - - - if we love others as ourselves, and not only our own families and friends, in a way we are sacrificing our children and special friends; or, I suppose we could say we are sacrificing our favoritism . . . our "partiality".

And Jesus does say, by the way >

"For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?" (in Matthew 5:46).

"but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors." (James 2:9)

So, we can tend to favor a rich person if we think we can use that person. And we can favor people of our families and our friends who we hope to use. But a poor person might not seem important . . . not someone we can use . . .

but but but

Which spirit are we spreading around us to effect everyone around us, while we are loving selfishly and favoritisticly? We can be more important by being all-loving and spreading the grace of God's all-loving Holy Spirit, all around us.
 
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com7fy8

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James 2:8 >

"If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you do well;" (James 2:8)

So, it looks like James is calling our Second Love Commandment "the royal law". Jesus is our King, and this is His law, how He desires for us to love others as ourselves.

By the way > Leviticus 19:18 says >

"'"You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD."'" (Leviticus 19:18)

I notice how this "love your neighbor" command is not presented together with our First Love Commandment to love God with all we've got.

Plus, I notice how, right along with this command to love our neighbor, we have the command not to hold grudges and not to seek revenge. So, forgiving is included in loving. This includes, to forgive others the way you want to be forgiven.

So, we do not love only those we get along with.

And in caring prayer we have hope for others as we have hope for our own selves and ones close to us.
 
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com7fy8

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"but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors." (James 2:9)

Partiality can be favor because of what someone looks like . . . judging by appearance. And yes it can include how a judge favors someone because the person is well-to-do and has social status.

I can favor women who look and smile nicer. I need to get more into really loving every person. And there are people I can think are not so important, because of what they look like, but Jesus wants us to love and care for each and every person. And every one is important, to God.

Because God is not conceited; so He cares for every person. He is not trying to just use anybody.
 
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