Santiago

James 1:1- 11
1 bondservant:

1.	a person who serves in bondage; slave.

2.	a person bound to service without wages.

PBS has an interesting article on slavery in 1st century Rome: http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/slaves_freemen.html

The defining characteristic of slaves then was their subordinate nature towards their owner. They were a possession of someone else, to do their bidding. A main contrast between the mistreated slaves of Rome and James is the 'owner', who in James' case happens to be God, who is not cruel.

As Charlie pointed out on Monday at the Curries, this letter is written to the Jewish church as indicated by the greeting.

2- 4 First off, there is a guarantee of trials, and they are going to look different for each of us just as they did for Jews almost 2000 years ago. This is like a built in training program conditional on one thing. You only need to have the right attitude towards difficult people and injustice and lazy coworkers and a selfishness that is so hard to shake, but if we consider these a privilege to put our trust in Jesus, there will be no lack. Sticking to coaches workouts, come race time there will be utter domination in short.

5-8 I am not sure the best scale for wisdom, but Americans in general definitely have significant room for improvement. The 'if' could very well read 'since we lack wisdom....'. Since we are foolish left to ourselves, what is the danger here? Well, God is sovereign and infinitely wise, so if we truly believe this, along with his benevolent character, we are set. The fountain of wisdom. We just ask, and thats it, but you don't wait for the fountain to jump in your dining room, you set plan out your day around trips to the fountain, where it will be faithfully overflowing without fail.
When do I need to visit this fountain of heavenly enlightenment? How about discernment in daily conversation with female coworkers who see the world altogether differently or when I have no idea what to do with my life or when a close friend is hurting deeply and questioning the existence of God, let alone His goodness. Without the reservoir of wisdom the Lord offers, its game over really quite quickly....

9-11 What does a lowly person have to brag about except the fact they are not arrogant, and if this were the only way out, it would be self contradictory. But, Jesus exhorted his disciples to lose their life that they might find it, so all is not vanity after all. It is worthwhile to boast that we are helpless and worthless apart from grace and God's incredible pursuit of sinners in sending Jesus to die in the place of those who trust His (Jesus') perfect work and suffering. A great boast, but a much different boast than the rich man. If the rich guy does boast in his grand possessions, what a poor investment he will have made. The guaranteed greatest black Thursday of all time will come to those who save their life and then lose it after 20, 50, 80 years.

"Father, I don't like the thought of suffering, much less the substance. Help me to see past present realities and feel the weight of eternity in daily interactions with people. My heart wants to be its own master; break me to be only yours and identified as one of Christ's redeemed slaves, not as someone who has it together or has the right answers or the most secure future and outlook, but as a very broken clay vessel with an absolutely stunning treasure inside. Give me wisdom not so I am the go-to person in counsel, but that those around me might see how much it makes sense to trust you for day to day decisions and ultimately salvation. In Christ's Name, Amen."