Acknowledging our strengths and the areas in which we have grown is both encouraging, exciting, and motivating.  To not do so keeps us discouraged and leads us to be more easily motivated to give up.  However, to go to the opposite extreme (which we tend to do) is equally counterproductive.… Read More James: Stumbling in One Point

Consider a scenario in which you recognize clearly when an average friend or acquaintance sins but you refuse to acknowledge the exact same sin when it is you, your spouse, your children or parents, or your closest friend who commits it.  Your refusal to acknowledge what clearly exists because of your favoritism will lead to you refusing to correct yourself or them and encouraging yourself or them to obey God, which in turn will lead to eternal condemnation (cf. Ezek. 3:17-21).… Read More James: Showing Partiality

If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.  Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.  James… Read More James: What It Means to be Religious

Imagine looking in a mirror and seeing bed-head and an unshaven face…and then immediately forgetting all about it and going off to work in that condition!  That’s how we are when we listen to God’s Word and yet fail to put it into practice in our daily lives.… Read More James: Be “Doers,” Not Just “Hearers”