James 2:15-16: is this situation one of those things God reserves for Himself?

[Questioning Brother]

James 2:15 “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?”

Is this warned against because it is supposed to be that God is the only one who is supposed to tell you to be comforted without actually improving your situation? Is this one of those rights, such as vengeance, He is jealous of for only Himself?

 

[1213]

...Is this warned against because it is supposed to be that God is the only one who is supposed to tell you to be comforted without actually improving your situation? Is this one of those rights, such as vengeance, He is jealous of for only Himself?

No.

 

[public hermit]

Friend, you have got to stop nursing this resentment. I wish you and your loved ones did not have to struggle and suffer. I wish none of us did. But this is life until the consummation of all things. No one has been promised that if they follow Christ they get an exemption from the harsher realities of life. No one.

What has been promised is that this veil of tears will end, God Himself will wipe away our tears, so that life, joy, and peace will never end in the presence of the God who loves us. That is the faith we have been given.

You did not invent our faith. It was offered to you. Either accept what has been offered or not. But you only do yourself a disservice by nursing a resentment about what has never been promised.

 

[Francis Earl]

It is much simpler... it is distinguishing between mere words and meaningful action...

It is not a warning at all, only a sign of the heart of the person who sees a problem and does nothing practical about it.

 

[Francis Earl]

Friend, you have got to stop nursing this resentment. I wish you and your loved ones did not have to struggle and suffer. I wish none of us did. But this is life until the consummation of all things. No one has been promised that if they follow Christ they get an exemption from the harsher realities of life. No one.

What has been promised is that this veil of tears will end, God Himself will wipe away our tears, so that life, joy, and peace will never end in the presence of the God who loves us. That is the faith we have been given.

You did not invent our faith. It was offered to you. Either accept what has been offered or not. But you only do yourself a disservice by nursing a resentment about what has never been promised.

If you can look into the world today and not weep at the callousness of it you are not paying attention...

 

[bèlla]

James is repeating a principle mentioned in Proverbs.

Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you. —Proverbs 3:28

The refusal to meet the need when you have the means in hand is the problem. It's uncharitable and unloving.

‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ —Mark 12:31

Yours in His Service,

~Bella

 

[public hermit]

If you can look into the world today and not weep at the callousness of it you are not paying attention...

Trust me, my heart stays broken.

 

[Francis Earl]

Trust me, my heart stays broken.

Then why do you ignore that his is broken?

 

[Questioning Brother]

James is repeating a principle mentioned in Proverbs.

Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you. —Proverbs 3:28

The refusal to meet the need when you have the means in hand is the problem. It's uncharitable and unloving.

‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ —Mark 12:31

Yours in His Service,

~Bella

Your means statement is exactly what God is doing. He definitely has the means, but refuses to help.

 

[Francis Earl]

Your means statement is exactly what God is doing. He definitely has the means, but refuses to help.

1 Corinthians 12:12-27

We are the hands and feet of Jesus, he is acting through us...

The problem is few answer this call so nothing is really done... worse, many actively act against it because of the modern culture of greed and selfishness...

(I have not used the right verse, only the one section that came immediately to mind... if anyone can give the correct section it would be appreciated)

 

[Francis Earl]

Ephesians 2:10 is another fairly clear verse on this...

We do his work, he has power through us that are in the Spirit...

If we do not have the Spirit we will act for ourselves and not each other.

 

[public hermit]

Then why do you ignore that his is broken?

I don't. This isn't his first thread. @Questioning Brother can explain to you his deep seated resentment against God. I get it, but if he is going to go forward in faith he is going to have look at things differently. I hate that he continues to struggle with this. Maybe you can help him.

 

[bèlla]

Your means statement is exactly what God is doing. He definitely has the means, but refuses to help.

The passage doesn't refer to God. He's addressing humans in that statement.

Yours in His Service,

~Bella

 

[Questioning Brother]

It is not an issue that a worldly source can fix. I need a miracle to improve the situation. The only one that CAN help is God, and He refuses to do so. His words of comfort (insert whatever spiritual term or reason is meaningful to you) are the person speaking in the passage. Empty, with no good being actually done.

 

[Francis Earl]

I don't. This isn't his first thread. @Questioning Brother can explain to you his deep seated resentment against God. I get it, but if he is going to go forward in faith he is going to have look at things differently. I hate that he continues to struggle with this. Maybe you can help him.

It is not very helpful to tell a story about another in your mind.

I think it is right to question at least the Church which is the representative of Christ on the earth today, for it is clear that something is amiss. I think it wrong to be angry with God about this, he has invited us to act rightly and we refuse.

We would rather praise men like Trump and base our priorities around money... we do not seem to care at all about love, everyone is full of fear which causes hate and violence.

 

[Francis Earl]

It is not an issue that a worldly source can fix. I need a miracle to improve the situation.

Close your eyes and beg God to come into your heart, ask him to show you how to be the start of the fix... do not open them again until there is an answer.

Hebrews 5:7 says even Jesus did this, yet what have you practically done?

 

[public hermit]

It is not an issue that a worldly source can fix. I need a miracle to improve the situation.

I pray you receive it.

 

[Francis Earl]

It is good to question and doubt until you KNOW God... until divinity is revealed to you... if you merely accept that it is already so then you will not mature in the Body of Christ... you cannot, because you already think it is finished and everything is taken care of for you...

The reality is baptism by water is the start, and it is not helpful to receive in Church essentially a self-help guide to life... the self is not supposed to be empowered, it is supposed to be surrendered that Gods will act through you, your will is an impediment and moved by the beastly aspect of our nature.

Indeed, even Jesus asked "why hast thou forsaken me"...

 

[OtherSheep]

James 2:15 “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?”

Is this warned against because it is supposed to be that God is the only one who is supposed to tell you to be comforted without actually improving your situation? Is this one of those rights, such as vengeance, He is jealous of for only Himself?

The whole point of James is Faith Without Works Is Dead.

God sends the rain upon the just and the unjust... does that seem like an improvement to a man who is dying of thirst? or to the man whose garden is the only source of food for him? God clothes the lilies of the field and cares when a sparrow dies. God owns all of the things He created; in Him we live and move and have our being, says the Greek poet.

God judges rightly, from His vantage point; humans cannot judge impartially what they believe is happening to them. Utley proves all this in her book The High Cost of Vengeance.

 

[OtherSheep]

The reality is baptism by water is the start, and it is not helpful to receive in Church essentially a self-help guide to life... the self is not supposed to be empowered, it is supposed to be surrendered that Gods will act through you, your will is an impediment and moved by the beastly aspect of our nature.

Indeed, even Jesus asked "why hast thou forsaken me"...

The baptism by water is the human birth. John says he came for one purpose: baptizing by water to find the one upon whom the Holy Spirit stayed. This has been accomplished.

Baptized in the Holy Spirit... this is done as Jesus tells us: If ye love Me keep My commandments, and My Father will love you, and We will come to you and make Our abode. Making Their abode with us is the conduit of the Holy Spirit joining us to Them. Those who do not love the Son and thereby do His commandments do not have God loving them or the Holy Spirit keeping them.

If you are saying you think Jesus had a beastly aspect to His nature... I caution you to consider your words. Jesus says not My will but Thine be done; He never changed any part of that ideology. The Father forsook the Son not at all. But in the one thing... dying... Jesus must have felt Himself abandoned. It wasn't beastly. It was human.

The Theanthropic Jesus was dying to give the way of the Resurrection to those who love Him and do His commandments.