From James 3:1-12

I once took a class on adolescent psychology that had a research component.  The brief study I did was on the moral development that happens during puberty.  Each participant was given a scenario where the owner of a drug store was selling a life saving drug for a hundred thousand dollars, even though it only cost him a few dollars to get.  The husband of a dying woman can’t afford the medicine, so he steals it.  The question is then “was stealing the medicine wrong?” Interestingly, younger kids said yes but the older teenagers said no.  When asked why, the younger kids said that stealing was wrong and the older teenagers said that stealing was wrong, but what the drug store owner was doing was wrong, so the theft was justified.

As we get older, we get better and better at justifying things that are wrong and sometimes we call that wisdom. We are called to be holy and perfect, and just because we won’t succeed doesn’t mean that we should content ourselves with doing wrong.  We should rely on the Word of God and use all the gifts He gives us to try and do the right thing – whether we can justify the wrong thing or not.

Focus on God

We are reminded in these verses that God graciously gives us pure wisdom from above.

Function in Our Lives

We are encouraged to resist the temptation to justify doing the wrong thing.

Topics to Pray About                                                               

• Thank God for the gift of His Word.
• Confess to God the times where you do things you shouldn’t because you can justify it.
• Ask the Holy Spirit to conform you to Christ.

In His Service,

J. LeBorious