8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Lets make this crystal clear:
Even though the NT can be read of all and has purpose for redemption and instruction both saved and unsaved it is foremost written for believers!
If that wasn't clear I will say it again:
The NT is foremost written for believers!
The unbelievers are bound by sin and not under the blood of Christ. The believers read the Scriptures for instruction, rebuke, guidance, warning, encouragement, and hope. Why hope? Because we are in a battle for our new man to take over and to put the old man to death.
There are many faucets to this battle with defensive armor and offensive armor but the best place to be as we fight is next to our Master and King. That is why we "draw neigh" to Him who is able to deliver to the uttermost.
"Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."
Who is this verse talking about here?
Christians!
"He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law."
Has James written this for the unsaved or the saved? That is the convicting question. We cannot query that he was talking about the unbelievers because of how he started his letter:
James 1:1-8
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
He is clearly speaking to brothers and sisters in the Lord, that is why he commands us to draw neigh to God for a "re-cleansing" through confession.
"If you confess your sins He is faithful to forgive your sins" is the promise every believer has when he has "transgressed God's commands for "sin is the transgressing of God's laws." We are not under the Mosaic law for judgement but we are under grace through Christ and the law of Love which is a matter of heart. The law was of the letter but grace is of the heart. The law only addressed the carnal but grace (the heart) addresses both the carnal along with the attitudes and motives which compound the sin.
Those believers who are furthest from God are the most apt to compound sin. It comes naturally. Remember that God cannot move away from you, only you can move away from Him (in heart only though). He fills all His creation, you live in that creation. No matter where you go you cannot leave His presence therefor your sin is great because you are doing it in His presence and against His unconditional Love for you. Not only do you agree with sin in His presence but you also give "the accuser of our souls" the freedom to mock God because of our failure, and open the door to "him who goes to and fro looking for whom he may devour." There are a lot of Christians who stand in God's presence with bite marks on their souls. God can heal them through confession in Jesus name "lest who could survive?"
Being that our "lives are but a vapor" which disappears in a little while shouldn't we live as those who "draw neigh" into the safe haven of our souls to receive strength and grace for the day?
Today's challenge is to start reading the Bible as though it was written/speaking just to you. Forget others and let it's Words cleanse, without excuse, you and me as if it was a personal Love letter from our Loving Father. Don't be so proud to think that "this doesn't pertain to me."
It all pertains to you because you are Christ's and He is the Word. As Christ is the Word and you are His than His Word is your Love letter that conforms you into His image and likeness with the heart to "Glorify your Father in heaven.
Be as little children.
Walk in faith.
Love one another.
Love
J&E in Tn
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