The Book of
James 4
17 verses≈ 3 minBSB
Images are artistic interpretations.
Tap any post to go deeper
Where we are
- 1Tested faithJoy in trials; hear and do
- 2Living faithNo favorites; faith that works
- 3Wise wordsTaming the tongue; wisdom from above
- 4Humble heartsDraw near to God, not the worldChapter 4
- 5Patient hopeWait for the Lord; pray in faith
A Warning against Pride
What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you? You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask. And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.
Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture
friendship with the world is hostility toward God
James 4:4
Or do you think the Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to dwell in us yearns with envy?
But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
James 4:6
Question
Quick question
James answers the quarrels of 4:1–5 with a promise and a line of Scripture.
According to the Scripture James quotes, whom does God give grace to?
Drawing Near to God
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.
James 4:7–8
Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. And if you judge the law, you are not a practitioner of the law, but a judge of it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
Reflect
Come near
James makes a promise with a command: “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” What has kept you at a distance from God lately: a quarrel, a hidden wrong, a critical spirit, or simply busyness? What would one honest step toward Him look like today?
Do Not Boast about Tomorrow
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.”
0:22
Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain
If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.
James 4:15
As it is, you boast in your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil.
Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do, yet fails to do it, is guilty of sin.
James 4:17
Pray
If the Lord is willing
Bring your plans for this week to God: the work, the trips, the hopes. Tell Him honestly that your life is “a mist that appears for a little while.” Ask Him to hold every plan in His hands, and to show you the right thing to do today, and the grace to do it.
You’ve experienced
James 4
0 of 5 chapters read
A verse to carry with you
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.
James 4:7–8
or swipe left