As we come to the final chapter of James, what have we been learning?
We’ve learnt that:
· Trials are part of the Christian life.
· We are called to persevere.
· It is not enough to listen, we need to put into practice what we have learnt.
· We are called to be self-disciplined.
· We are called to submit to God, where submit means to sign up, to enlist and then to follow where God leads.
· We also have a corporate responsibility to look after those in the fellowship who are suffering, are ill or wandering away from the faith.
· We are called to be patient.
I’m sure there are a few points I’ve missed out!
All this is in the context of the fact that Christ will return and will expect us to be showing our faith through our deeds.
While for some James is seen as a ‘letter of straw’, I believe our studies have shown it to be far more than that. It is a call to all Christians to stand up and be counted. In this letter we have pointers to going deeper in our discipleship by being not merely hearers of God’s word but also those who do His will. This is surely part of our Lenten discipline as we strive to go deeper in our discipleship.