October 26, 2010 – James 1 - 2:13

The trinity of evil – Desire-Sin-Death.  Talked about as being brought about by each other.  It starts off as a desire, then we give in to that desire it becomes sin, then sin, when not stopped, leads to death.   

v. 19 we get our relation to yesterday’s reading about being quick to listen but slow to act.  Thinking about what we say. 

Temptations do not come from God.  Have you ever heard yourself asking why God tempts me with this or that.  God never tempts us.  We tempt ourselves with things and the devil lures us with things, but God can only give us good.  I don’t think we take responsibility for our own actions enough.  We should never blame God for a situation we find ourselves in.  It might help to look for the ways God gave us to not get in that situation in the first place.  

The Word is planted in us and the Word will save our souls.  Sounds a lot like something a sola fide theology would point to.  But the next few verses talk about doing good things. 

Ch2. V 12 – The law of Freedom.  What does that mean.  We talked a couple of days ago that the freedom God gives us is not the freedom to do whatever we want but the freedom to choose God’s way.  To think that we are going to be judged based on the “law of freedom” makes us really have to think about how we are treating that freedom God has given us.