Be Still And Know

James 1:26 James was deeply concerned about people who were phoney. They did religious things and made a good first impression but, in fact, their faith did nothing to affect their actions. And he was famously concerned about the abuse of the tongue. Later in this letter he has much more to say on the subject, but here he simply identifies the importance of controlling what we say. I am sure he was thinking of people who created problems by spreading gossip, speaking coarsely or being rude and offensive. He wanted such people to know that, if they thought they were truly religious, they were just fooling themselves. Their religion wasn’t worth anything. So how do we learn to control our tongues? It may well be that you would never think of sharing gossip or speaking rudely, but we all have work
to do to take greater control over what we say. However loving and wise our words might be, we could all speak more lovingly and wisely. Step one is to pray that this will happen. The psalmist prayed: “

James 1:23-24 My ability to forget things constantly amazes me, but it probably shouldn’t. The brain decreases in size in our 30s and 40s and, more rapidly, in our 60s. Norman Wisdom, the much- loved comedian and actor, said: “As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes...and I can’t remember the other two.” In our verses today James points out the absurdity of looking in a mirror and then immediately forgetting what you have seen. At the time, mirrors were made of highly polished metal, placed horizontally on a table for people to examine themselves in. The refection would not have been as clear as that which we see in a modern mirror, but to not remember anything would have been crazy! Forgetting what you look like is relatively unimportant, but remembering what God’s word says is in a different category. This is a matter of spiritual life and death. We can’t run the risk of listening to what God has to say and then totally forgetting it. So how are we going to remember God’s

James 1:22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. Listening to God’s word is clearly a very good thing to do. But it isn’t enough. Anyone can listen to the Bible, a sermon or a Christian podcast. But the mere process of listening doesn’t change anything. What matters is that our listening then affects the way in which we live. My college principal once said that studying the Bible without asking the question: “Lord, what do you want to me to do?” was a blasphemy. That’s strong language, but he was trying to explain that, if we are not looking to turn God’s word into action, then we are taking God’s name too lightly. I’m really grateful that when I was asked to write these daily devotionals, I was asked to provide a reflective question at the end. It’s often very demanding to compose that question but I am so grateful for that discipline. There really is no point in us looking at the Bible unless we are asking deep questions ab

James 1:19 James was well aware that the normal inclination of human beings is to speak too much and listen too little. It’s worth reflecting for a moment on why this is the case. Listening is really hard work. It’s certainly much more demanding than speaking. When we give our full attention to another person, it requires a great deal of concentration and, if we do it for long, it can be exhausting. But when we listen to someone else, we are showing our care and love for them in a profound way. James certainly wasn’t asking his readers to be mute! It is good and healthy for us to speak, but we would all do well to make sure we are disciplined in the way we speak - and ensure we are constantly improving our listening skills. In recent years, there has been a mushrooming of listening courses. They perhaps don’t teach anything that is brand new to any of us, but they do encourage us to reflect carefully on the process of listening, and can help us become increasingly attentive to others. I’m sure all of

James 1:12 If we are honest, most of us would rather not have to face problems and difficulties. We often pray that God would take away any challenges in life so that we can enjoy a life of peace and joy. Surely that is just the sort of thing he would want for us! But in our broken and disordered world, we, like everyone else, will have to face many difficulties and challenges. And, as Christians, we have Jesus’ assurance that we will have an additional layer of burdens and opposition to bear simply because we follow him. Jesus told his disciples that the world was bound to hate them in just the same way as it hated him because they, too, did not belong to the world (John 15:18-19). This means we need to be equipped to face all kinds of testing and temptation. That’s why James stressed the importance of endurance in this opening chapter of his letter. His readers needed to hang in there through good times and bad. They needed to stand strongly in their faith whether they were being loved or loathe

James 1:9-10 The Bible often invites us to think through the biggest question of all: Where can we find true wealth? James was clear about the answer. The most valuable thing in the world is to know God and to be a citizen of heaven. Nothing can possibly get better than that. James encouraged his poor Christian friends to understand just how honoured and blessed they were. Most of James’ readers were probably poor. We know that there had been a famine in the area at around this time, and Christians were living under constant persecution, with all the limitations and difficulties that produced. Times were hard, but James wanted to encourage them to understand their true status. They had something to boast about because of their eternal security in God. At the same time, James wanted those who were rich to understand that their true wealth lay in their relationship with God. They needed
to recognise that, in all humility, their human possessions ultimately counted for nothing. As Job observed: “I ca

James 1:5 Whether we are looking at major life-changing decisions or little day-to-day issues, we all need wisdom. This verse reminds us that God is generous and loves to give his wisdom to us. When we ask for wisdom we can do so with confidence, knowing that he’s not going to make us feel embarrassed for asking. You couldn’t blame him if he said to us: “What, you again? Have you still not worked it out? I can’t believe you still haven’t got the hang of this!” But fortunately, that’s just not how God works. He wants us to ask and is delighted to give us his wisdom. If we can be confident of God’s desire to give us his wisdom, the most important question is: Do we really want it? Perhaps we enjoy our life the way it is at the moment, and the last thing we would want is for God to disturb it. I remember the time we did some door-to-door visiting in a road of fine, comfortable suburban houses. We were received politely and warmly by the people who lived there but, having told them a little about the Chri

James 1:2-3 Talk to anyone involved in business or sport, and they will tell you that they learnt the most when things have gone badly. Times of financial loss or heavy defeats forced them to reflect and learn the most useful lessons. By working through the challenging times, they gained resilience - and that’s what we all need to be effective in life. We might wish that everything would always go smoothly and easily, but the truth is that, in those circumstances, we would never make progress. It’s for this reason that James rejoiced in the troubles his readers experienced. He wasn’t suggesting that troubles were, in themselves, good. The persecution that the Church was experiencing was extremely bad but, amazingly, God was able to use it to bring blessing. That’s why James saw their challenges as an opportunity for great joy. Testing times often make us stronger and help build our resilience and ability to endure in the face of difficulties. This was particularly important for James’ readers as t

Proverbs 3:13-14 Everyone wants joy. Of course we do. Talk to any parent and almost everyone will say that they want their children to be happy. They don’t mind what career they follow, where they live or who they marry but they want them to be happy and joyful. The words of the book of Proverbs are timeless. The writer tells us that the route to joy is through gaining wisdom. So we need to be absolutely clear what is meant by this grand word ‘wisdom’. It is not the same as knowledge. Knowing a huge number of facts may be really interesting and useful but it may also cause headaches and lead to arrogance. Wisdom takes us to the heart of how life ticks. To be wise is to understand the greatest truths about life. The writer of Proverbs is clear that those truths are found in God. As we get to know God better, we learn more about ourselves, our neighbours and our world. We learn those things which bring peace, love and joy. It is perfectly possible for someone to have very little knowledge but hu

Proverbs 3:9-10 Abba’s famous song ‘Money, money, money’ sums up a lot of our modern world’s thinking about wealth. The lyrics say: “In my dreams I have a plan / If I got me a wealthy man / I wouldn’t have to work at all, I’d fool around and have a ball / Money, money, money / Must be funny / In the rich man’s world / Money, money, money / Always sunny / In the rich man’s world”. I’m not suggesting that people base their philosophy of life on Abba’s lyrics but the longing for money, and the belief that it solves all of life’s problems, is widely held. It just happens to be wrong. There is, of course, nothing wrong with money. It is part of God’s creation, but it is vital that we handle it in the right way. In today’s verses, the writer of Proverbs reminds us of the need to give God first place in our lives by giving to him of what we have. This principle was firmly established in the law which decreed: “As you harvest your crops, bring the very best of the first harvest to the house of the LORD yo

Proverbs 3:5-6 One of the greatest privileges of my life is to spend time talking with people about guidance. I don’t do this because I am an expert at advising people which way to go, but because I know the Guide who wants to lead them. It has helpfully been said that the Bible never uses the word ‘guidance’ - it simply introduces us to the Guide, and that’s precisely what we read in these verses. God loves us so much that he wants us to make good decisions in life, so we enjoy our lives to the full. Everyone needs guidance. Sometimes this is because we need to make major life-changing decisions but, most of the time, the decisions are small and relatively unimportant. However, every decision we make is significant, and even apparently small decisions can have consequences. That means every single decision matters and needs to be taken carefully. The writer of Proverbs encourages us to trust the Lord completely. It has been suggested that the Hebrew word for ‘trust’ originally held the idea of ly

Proverbs 2:3-4 I have never had a metal detector, but I have a number of friends who rave about their hobby. They head out into muddy fields to eagerly search
for treasure and, most of the time, find nothing of interest. But the rare success stories are amazing and, of course, continue to inspire and motivate detectorists. The biggest and most spectacular discovery in the UK was the Staffordshire Hoard, discovered in 2009. It was the most significant collection of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver artefacts that has ever been found on these islands. It consisted of almost 4,600 items and metal fragments, amounting to a total of 5.1 kg (11 lbs) of gold, 1.4 kg (3 lbs) of silver and some 3,500 pieces of garnet cloisonné jewellery. It was sold for more than £3m. The writer of Proverbs tells us that we need to have the detectorist’s enthusiasm and determination to look for real treasure; in other words, godly wisdom. Gold and silver are impressive but fade into insignificance alongside the lasting treasure of i

John 17:20-21 This is an amazing prayer. Within moments Jesus would be betrayed by Judas and arrested by Roman soldiers and Temple guards. Jesus knew exactly what was going on but, in the middle of it all, he calmly prayed this prayer to his Heavenly Father. He rejoiced in the unity they enjoyed together and longed for his followers to have a similar experience. It is a tragic truth that the Church has never experienced much unity. There are said to be more than 45,000 different Christian denominations in the world today. The variety is staggering in terms of what they believe and how they worship. People find their way into different denominations for a wide variety of reasons. I used to think that people would support one particular denomination because of strong doctrinal convictions, but it is much more complicated than that. Some people attend a particular church because it’s close to their home or because a friend goes there. My father’s family was split along gender lines. His mothe

John 17:3 You can sum up Christianity very easily with the expression: “It’s not what you know but who you know that counts.” Christian faith is all about a personal relationship with God the Father and his son, Jesus. Everything hinges on that. Here in Jesus’ prayer to his Father, he reflects on the relationship they enjoyed. They lived in complete unity and Jesus expresses his desire that everyone else should experience a similar relationship. It is amazing to think that it is possible to have a personal relationship with the God of all creation and with the Son of God. But it is possible - because God has chosen to enter into such a relationship with us. In the book of Jeremiah, we learn about the new covenant that God wants to have with his people. God said: “I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbours, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will kno

John 15:18-19 Jesus faced opposition throughout his ministry. It was important that his disciples knew the same would be true for them. In these verses, Jesus gives the reason for this. Fundamentally, they no longer belonged to this world. Of course they continued to live in the world, but their values and objectives had totally changed since they met Christ. This was an important message for the disciples, all of whom were going to face brutal opposition in the years to come. Indeed, apart from John, they were all killed because of their faith. Peter was martyred around AD 66 during a time of persecution headed by the Roman emperor Nero. Peter demanded that he be crucified upside down, not feeling worthy to be crucified in the same way as his master. Thomas, who is generally believed to have taken the gospel to India, was pierced to death by the spears of four soldiers. Matthew is said to have been stabbed to death in Egypt. James was stoned and clubbed to death, and Matthias burnt alive. Such ap

John 15:16 If you are a follower of Jesus, you can probably remember the time when you chose to start following him. But one this is for sure: our step towards following Jesus came long after he took the first move towards us. What you and I did was merely responding to his love. He took the initiative. This is a really important point because, at times, it sounds as if we have done the Lord an enormous favour by following him. The reality is that we have simply responded to the love and grace he showed us long before we knew anything about him. As the apostle Paul put it in his letter to the church in Rome: “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8). Because we have been chosen by God, we live lives of continual gratitude. God has showered his love upon us in a way we could never deserve. I love how the apostle Paul summarised this in his letter to the Ephesians. He wrote of the way in which we have redemption through the blood of Jesus

John 15:15 To be Jesus’ slave would be the greatest possible privilege. But Jesus wanted his disciples to know that he was looking for a much more intimate relationship than that. At the end of the day, a slave, however trusted and respected, had no rights at all and would certainly not be taken into the confidence of their master. But friends are different. The barriers are down. There is an intimacy that a slave would never experience. In the Old Testament, we hear God referring to Abraham as his friend (Isaiah 41:8). And in Paul’s letter to the Romans, the apostle reflected on the fact that it was through the death of Jesus on the cross that we are now God’s friend, rather than his enemy. Friendship is the most incredible privilege. It cannot be forced. A friendship only occurs because two people want it to happen, and are willing to be flexible enough to make the relationship work. The essence of friendship is that it is open ended. It isn’t based on a contract, but simply on love. As a result

John 15:5 Jesus’ language in this verse is uncompromising. We live in days when such language is deeply unpopular. People want to hear that every way of life is equally valid; it is just a matter of your own personal opinion. But that is completely different from Jesus’ approach. He claimed that, if we’re not living our lives in union with him, we can do nothing. He wasn’t offering an interesting and fulfilling way to find purpose in life. He came to bring the only way to find life. Just as branches will die without a connection to the vine so, too, are we as good as dead without a relationship with Jesus. What, then, does it mean to remain in Jesus as a way of life? Most of us live a busy life with lots of relationships, pressures and responsibilities. Many of the things we do are simply practical: we must eat, drink, exercise, work, walk the dog, clean the house - and a thousand other things. We may wonder how remaining in Jesus affects any of these things. But this is where the rubber hits the

John 15:1-2 I often drive past a large vineyard. When the vines are not in leaf there are few sights more unattractive. Just lines of contorted branches looking completely dead and useless. But then, in the spring, they burst into life and gradually produce the fruit for which they have been carefully cultivated. The whole purpose of a vine is to produce grapes, and a gardener will be absolutely decisive in the way in which they prune it to ensure the best possible crop. In the growing season, dead branches must go, and good branches are carefully pruned to encourage even more growth. The picture of the vine is often used in the Old Testament. It was God’s intention that Israel should be his vine. Psalm 80: 8-11 describes the way in which God brought the people out of Egypt as transplanting a grapevine, clearing the ground for it to take root and fill the promised land. They would have room to spread their branches all the way to the Mediterranean in the west, and to the Euphrates river in the eas

John 14:27 Peace is critically important for all of us. It has said that with peace of mind, a poor person is rich and, without it, a rich person is poor. The Bible tells us that Jesus was the Prince of Peace, and his intention was to offer his peace to everyone. But unfortunately, in our broken and tempestuous world, the word ‘peace’ tends to be seen negatively, or as merely the absence of war and conflict. When we look at the peace of Jesus, we need to tune our minds into thinking differently. Peace is the Lord’s gift to all who open their hearts and minds to him. Peace treaties are certainly impressive achievements, and they are often the result of many hours (sometimes years!) of careful negotiation. The Good Friday Agreement, signed in 1998, was far from perfect. Yet it has led to a period of much greater peace in Ireland and Northern Ireland. However, the peace that Christ makes available to us is quite different. It isn’t something which we can achieve by clever negotiation and hard work. It is