7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.
The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil,
being patient about it,
until it gets the early and late rains.
8 You too be patient; strengthen your hearts,
for the coming of the Lord is near.
9 Do not complain, brethren, against one another,
so that you yourselves may not be judged;
behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.
(James 5:7-9 NASU).
Be Patient like the Farmer
The above verses were part of my Bible reading this morning. Such a timely reminder from James, the Lord's brother for the day in which we live.
The Apostle Paul wrote similar words to
his young disciple, Timothy: “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come (2
Timothy 3:1 NASU).
Are the times we live in difficult? Indeed they are. We are
living in the day of a pandemic from a virus that has no certain prevention or
treatment. Natural disasters are many and deadly; uncontrolled forest fires in
California and hurricanes out of the Atlantic Ocean take lives and homes. Swarms
of tornados in the Midwest and the South; Tension and war between nations;
Israel surrounded by enemies and threatened by terrorism; rampant immorality around
the world; racial tension, protests, riots, and looting in the cities of
America; the most contentious presidential campaign in my lifetime; and a
president who is ill with Covid 19—these are perilous times. Anxiety and stress are at record levels and suicides are increasing.
What am I, a follower of Jesus, supposed to do in these
days? Jesus was asked a similar question by His enemies. A Pharisee asked Him, “What
is the greatest commandment?” He might as well have asked, “What is the most
important thing I must do to please God?” Jesus gave an answer that echoes down
to our day. His words are our marching orders today, tomorrow, and until He
returns. In Matthew 22:37-40 we read
His answer.
“ 37
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind. 38
This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as
yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law
and the Prophets.”
Our Commander has given us marching orders for these last days. First of all, while He walked among us Jesus said, “Love the Lord; love your neighbor!" Look around you, beloved friends, do you see believers loving God and loving each other? How about you, are you loving God and loving your brothers and sisters in the Lord and your unbelieving friends? Sometimes God’s people focus less on the message of the Bible and more on the message of division found in the news and social media?
The first order for our journey toward godliness is love and that love should reach out, not only to our friends but also to those whom we perceive as enemies. It should reach to those who wear masks and to those who do not wear masks. It should reach to those who are on the right side of the political aisle and those who are on the left. It should reach out to those whose words we agree with and those whose words we believe to be false. Love is the key that makes the life of every believer shine. It is the only action (and it is an action, not an emotion!) that can change the world
James gives us a second mandate for these last days. He says, “Be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.” We are to wait like a farmer waits for his crop to be ready for harvest. He must wait patiently for the rain to come at its proper time. He must be patient when the rains are delayed or when they come at a time that threatens his crop. He cannot hurry the harvest or it will be worthless. Do you find patient waiting easy? I surely don’t.
And then James gets even more meddlesome. He says, “Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.” I hear a lot of complaining these days. There is complaining about people telling us what to do: wear masks; social distance; close your business; don’t sing in your worship; okay, you can sing but only if you meet outside; And on and on it goes. I will not express my opinion about any of these things. However, I will go back to James’ advice and remind you that whatever position you take, you must love, be patient, and not complain against your brother who may see things differently than you do. This difficult time is a time to come together in love, not a time to create division and alienation within the Body of Christ.
The Lord’s coming is soon. The Judge is standing at the
door. God’s got all the disasters of our world under His direct control. He has
His hand on President Trump as he works from the hospital and He has already
decided who will be President of the United States for the next four years. We
may or may not get the president we want, but we will get the person who will
accomplish God’s plan for this nation.
Now, imagine with me what would happen if every believer in
the Lord Jesus Christ would demonstrate love and patience and train his tongue
not to complain. Would our world be transformed? Indeed it would. Of course,
you and I can’t change the behavior of other Christian brothers and sisters,
but by God’s grace and with His resurrection power we can be obedient to the
Word of God. We can love God and others, and we can be patient and quit
complaining.
gshockley, That was a wonderful Lois, loved it and such truth and love we do need to show to all. I havefallen short and needed to hear this. Praise God for such a word , love you
ReplyDeleteI had to really think about how to respond. After some thought, the question that came to mind was "How far do we take God's instruction . He says in Philippians that Not complaining is what makes us Pure and Blameless, but how far do we take this? If we see someone breaking the law, do we not complain and not call the police, or say, "Hey, get away from my neighbor's car!"...At the store, if we see someone at work cookin' the books, do we say, I'm not complaining...if we see someone costing thousands of lives because of greed, and wanting what that person wants, do we stay silent. When we see a bully at school, were we not taught to speak up? What I have learned these past few months is that Face Book is not the place, but I believe there are places and platforms to do that, as long as we do this with respect and love...and there are verses that support this. But as of right now, God has me silent and I'm in a good place. When my flesh wants to be gratified by responding on FB,...even though I feel I'm right... I remember another verse from Phil.Ch.3...But what ever was to my profit I consider loss for the sake of Christ, I consider ALL things lost compared to the surpassing greatness of Knowing Christ Jesus my Lord....and I'm praying for Our President...He's going to be Born Again.Thanks Lois.
ReplyDeleteGREAT RESPONSE
DeleteYou make some very good points. I would love to talk to you person to person but that would not be wise in the era of Covid and I think as much as possible we should submit to our health people and our government.
LOVE AND CONFRONTATION
The Bible has lots to say about lots of issues and my intent was not to cover them all in one devotional. But I will make a few comments.
1) First of all, love does not mean never confronting evil or protecting the weak. Nor do these verses I quoted mean we are not to speak up for justice and righteousness when it is necessary to do so. The prophets had lots of warnings for people who oppressed the widows and orphans and took advantage of the poor and aliens. We are to stand up for what is right. However, what I see a lot of in our "Christian" culture is strong opinion expressed with very little love and very little real fact checking. Polarization is happening in our culture but, unfortunately even within our churches. When James says "do not complain against a brother I don't think he is talking about loving and respectful confrontation. You are absolutely correct in saying the Bible speaks about that as well. You are right that facebook is not the place to post negative and controversial things. It is a fine line to draw between what we should do that is just and right and when we cross the line from loving to disrespectful complaining.
WHAT SHOULD WE BE DOING?
1) Praying for our leaders: President Trump, Candidate Biden, on down to our local leaders. If we did more praying and less complaining, it would no doubt be more profitable.
2) Obey State regulations and Health Department recommendations to protect ourselves but also those who are more vulnerable from Covid.
3) Remember that our God is in control no matter who the president is next year. He has a plan that is working perfectly.
4) Always act in love and watch our tongues. Satan knows our vulnerabilities and loves to use them against us.
5) And this one should really be first. Keep our eyes focused on the unseen things of God instead of on our circumstances.
Thanks so much for the response. Keep looking up! Jesus is waiting in the door of heaven for His Father to say, "Go get your bride!" ~Lois
Thank you for reminding us that our enemies are not of this world. Although we can clearly see the evil one doing his evil work. Unfortunately, we sometimes act as his agents. God forgive us being unfaithful witnesses. We have the answers for life. Therefore let us not be guilty of bruising the fruit before our Savior picks it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the insightful comment. Why do God's people want to sort His crop for Him? Blessings to you, Bob and to Sharon as well.
DeleteThank you for reminding us that our enemies are not of this world. Although we can clearly see the evil one doing his evil work. Unfortunately, we sometimes act as his agents. God forgive us being unfaithful witnesses. We have the answers for life. Therefore let us not be guilty of bruising the fruit before our Savior picks it.
ReplyDelete