Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

MONDAY AUGUST 10


I'VE COME TO HELP

READ:
JAMES 1:22
____________________________________________________________________________________
Be doers of
the word, and
not hearers
only, deceiving
yourselves.
____________________________________________________________________________________

Reporter Jacob Rii's vivid descriptions of poverty in 19th-century New your City horrified a generally complacent public. His book How the Other Half Lives combined his writing with his own photographs to paint a picture so vivid that the public could not escape the certainty of poverty's desperate existence. The third of fifteen children himself, Riis wrote so effectively because he had lived in that world of terrible despair.

Shortly after the release of his book, he received a card from a young man just beginning his political career. The note read simply, "I have read your book, and I have come to help. Theodore Roosevelt." (This politician later became a US President).

The faith responds to the needs of others, according to James (1:19-27). May our hearts be moved from inaction to action, from words alone to deeds that back them up. compassionate action not only aids those mired in life's difficulties, but it may also make them open to the greater message from our Savior who sees their need and can do so much more for them.

**O Lord, it is so easy to be overwhelmed,
or to judge and therefore to refrain from helping others.
Lift our eyes above our own thoughts and circumstances,
and let us care as You care.
________________________________________________________________________________
Others will know what the words "God is love" mean
when they see it in our lives.

**********************************Today Bible Reading __ James 1:19-27************************
19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift
to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of
man does not produce the righteousness of God.

21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of
wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word,
which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving
yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a
doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;

24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets
what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect
law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer
but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not
bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion
is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the
Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and
to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
James's letter was to people enduring
difficult times. In James 1:1 we read, "James, a bondservant of
God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are
scattered abroad: Greetings." The "twelve tribes which are scattered
abroad" were Jewish followers of Christ who had been driven from
their homes in Jerusalem by persecution. Many of them had lost
everything because of their faith in Christ, and they were struggling.
Perhaps that is why James spoke so passionately about caring for
orphans and widows (1:27) and the poor (CH.2). Because the believers
had suffered so much themselves, they should have understood the
importance of responding to the needs of others. __Bill Crowder