11.19.11

James 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure.  It is also peace loving, gentle at all times and willing to yield to others.  It is full of mercy and good deeds.  It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.

My Thoughts

God's wisdom is pure... pure!.. If we choose to do what God tells us to do we can't go wrong.  It may not be easy, but it is never wrong.  We are told to love peace... embrace it, promote it.... be gentle with others to have it... give in if we need to for the sake of peace. This can be hard... we so often want to to prove our point... to make sure that somebody sees our side of things... often we just want things our way for a change.  We don't want to give in, to yield to others.  We so often give up peace to be right, to get our way.  If we could stop for a minute when we get lost in our selfishness and remember to do what is right ... God will take care of the rest in His time... God will bless us, we will get what we need when we tend to the needs of others... when we make peace.  God's blessings are so much bigger than any blessing man could give us.

Here we are also told to be full of mercy and good deeds. One definition of mercy is an act of kindness, compassion, or favor...we are to show no favoritism... so we are to be kind and compassionate  to all people..not just the people that are kind to us...not just the people we like... the people we like least often need our kindness and compassion the most.

Any kindness we show... and compassion we show...anything we do for others comes from God.. it is a gift from God...anything somebody does for us is a gift from God... When I put it in my head that way it makes me understand that when I withhold kindness from someone for any reason I am blocking God's gift to them.  I should never stand in the way of someone receiving anything that comes from God..and everytime I choose not to do a kind thing because I am not in the right mood or I just don't "feel" good...I am standing in the way of something that comes straight from heaven.  When I get in in my head this way... I feel a bit more understanding drop down into my soul... I don't every want to stand in the way of anybody receiving anything that God has in store for them.  That is surely a sin.