Today is Monday, August 3rd, 2009; Karen's Korner #1626

A Bible I was given for Christmas last year has an introduction to each chapter.
 
Here is a portion of the introduction to the New Testament book of JAMES:
 
"When Christian believers gather in churches, everything that can go wrong sooner or later does. Outsiders, on observing this, conclude that there is nothing to the religion business except, perhaps business -- and dishonest business at that. Insiders see it differently. Just as a hospital collects the sick under one roof and labels them as such, the church collects sinners. Many of the people outside of the hospital are every bit as sick as the ones inside, but their illnesses are either undiagnosed or disguised. It's similar with sinners outside the church. So Christian churches are not, as a rule, model communities of good behavior. They are, rather, places where human misbehavior is brought out in the open, faced, and dealt with.
 
"The letter of James shows one of the church's early pastors skillfully going about his work of confronting, diagnosing, and dealing with areas of misbelieve and misbehavior that had turned up in congregations committed to his care. Deep and living wisdom is on display here, wisdom both rare and essential. Wisdom is not primarily knowing the truth, although it certainly includes that, it is skill in living. For, what good is a truth if we don't know how to live it? What good is an intention if we can't sustain it?
 
"According to church traditions, James carried the nickname 'Old Camel Knees' because of the thick calluses built up on his knees for many years of determined prayer. The prayer is foundational to the wisdom. Prayer is always foundational to wisdom.
 
"It was customary for the sender of a letter (book of James) to list his credentials up front. James identified himself simply as a 'slave of God and the Master of Jesus'. He neglected to mention that he was Jesus' brother (in an era when family ties counted for a lot) and the leader of the original church in Jerusalem. During Jesus' lifetime, James and the rest of the family had been embarrassed by their loony brother, the traveling preacher-healer. But when the resurrected Jesus appeared to him in person, James came to grips with how wrong he'd been."
 
**
 
"So give yourselves humbly to God.
Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
And when you draw close to God,
God will draw close to you."
~~ James 4:7 & 8
 
**
 
"Remember, too, that knowing what is right to do
and not doing it is sin."
~~ James 4:17
 
**
 
"Admit your faults to one another
and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
The earnest prayer of a righteous man
has great power and wonderful results."
~~ James 5:16
 
**
 

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