Sunday 19 Sep 2021

September 19: James 3:13-18
 
Key Verse: James 3:15
Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
 
Devotion:
Why would the writer describe ambition as demonic? That's what many people will take away from verses like this, but it is far from the truth. Let us take this in context of what Jesus had taught the disciples about how they should behave; about the most important rules to follow...
 
Jesus said the most important thing is to love God with your whole being, and then to love your neighbour as yourself... which pre-supposes you have learned to love yourself because you have found the love of Christ... What is ambition? To better yourself beyond what you think is going to happen! Or something like that!
 
If we have genuinely learned to love God, the loving ourselves becomes second nature and then following Jesus' command to love other the same way follows... But these verses are not talking about acts like that, they are considering people lifting themselves above and before the others around them – which does not fall in line with loving others as you love yourself. To follow Christ's commands mean we need to have a great love for God, for ourselves and for the people around us – which mean we should be treating those around us like we want to be treated.
 
Earthly envy or ambition is loving ourselves above all else, above God and above the people around us – this is not real love and is called earthly wisdom or love here. When we focus internally instead of externally, we lose focus on God's love and build up false pictures of our own love which turn out to be envy, greed and pride... Allow God's love to spread through your life so you can share it with the people around you!
 
Points to Ponder:
How far does your love for yourself go?
 
Will you share more of God's love with others today?