Book of James

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In the past few months I have woken up a lot in the middle of the night and been unable to get back to sleep. It seems like my mind races and won’t settle back down for me to relax. I have figured out recently to read the Bible. It calms my mind. Oddly it also seems like whatever I have read sticks with me. I don’t know if God is waking me up to read the Bible. I don’t think so. It is just a natural part of having the pain from an injury.

A couple nights ago during such an episode I read the Book of James in the Bible. James is a book that is often pointed to as a ‘how-to-manual’ for Christians. Although I would never describe the Bible in it’s entirety as a how-to-manual for life as some Christians do we have reasons to think that much of the book of James is prescriptive. The book of James is one of the earliest letters. It was written only 20 years or so after Jesus’ resurrection. The Christians were scattered. Without an organized church they really didn’t know what to do.

I have read the Book of James before. I didn’t like it. There were too many rules. This time when I read it I found a lot of wisdom. I have been looking for such wisdom on my journey lately. As much as I found wisdom I also found a lot of passages I didn’t understand. So I thought I would reflect on the Book of James in this blog. Stay tuned!

Comments

Unknown said…
Wow! Thanks for sharing that. It really puts things into perspective & I agree that it makes sense that it's the everyday struggles we deal with.
Now that I don't have cable, I find I have more time on my hands. I read the whole book of James awhile ago because I had nothing else to do but I am glad I did!
8:00 PM
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