Mention “ALPHA” – First meeting Sept. 12th.
Reading:
James 1:17
Write:
All good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.
Reflect:
This may seem like a very evident issue. But could God ever change? Absolutely not. I don’t think it takes much thought to understand this. God is by his nature omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), ever present, all loving, all merciful and perfect. There are probably other attributes of God that could be mentioned, but that is enough for now.
Just for argument, let’s say that God can change, that implies a challenge to his perfection. Do you see that? If a perfect God changes what happens to his perfection? Did the need for change imply that he was not perfect or that he is no longer perfect? This is not an idle idea. There are those who are so weak in their thinking that they try to say that God does change.
Of course, the reason they say they need to see a God who changes is because they want to change some of the things we believe. So you find people wanting to say that God has changed in his attitude toward issues of morality. There are those that want to tell us that we need to embrace the immorality of sexual perversions. They try to say that God has changed – somehow – in his attitude toward some of the basic issues of his creation: male and female he created them – meaning us.
There are even those who have gone so far as to try to claim that abortion is a sacrament! I know that sounds strange. But some radical supporters of abortion have called that.
But this is not the only area of confusion. We see it rampant in many parts of our society in regard to all kinds of sexual ethics. Among the worst examples of this in my estimation are those who are fighting for a legitimation of homosexual and transsexual activities. Now, we do have to be careful as we address these issues. The church correctly – correctly – states that every individual has a dignity given them by God and that it must be respected. But that dignity calls them to holiness in their lives. We are called to love them into holiness. Not love them and approve them in their errors. It takes courage to face these mixed-up emotions.
We are fighting a cultural pandemic of selfishness. It has reduced and marginalized the moral certitude of our Christian values to such an extent that the cult of individualism has distorted the very fabric of our society. One of the next verses from our reading from James today spells this out for us. “Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.” The cult of individualism that is destroying the fabric of our society does not accept humility as a virtue. But that is the only way we can approach this all holy and unchanging God. Holiness must begin with humility.
The full verse, part of which is omitted from our reading today, says this: “Therefore, put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.” Put away all filth and evil excess – not exactly something that some people are willing to admit exists in their lives. Indeed, all of us have blind spots in our own lives – moral filth that needs to be eliminated – and we need to be corrected to live in holiness. But – and this is a big but – just because we do not have some of these “big things” existing in our lives does not mean that we have everything put together correctly.
It would always be a mistake to try to compare ourselves to others. Jesus is the only one worthy to hold up as an example for how we are to live. Because we do not have the same difficulties as those suffering with sexual issues do, it is wrong to think that we are somehow better than them. All sin goes against the call to holiness of an all-holy God. Yes, there is a difference between mortal and venial sins. But I think we make a mistake if we try to judge what is mortal and what is venial and thereby dismiss the seriousness of our own failures.
By having us call to mind our own sins, I am not trying to diminish the seriousness of the sexual sins I mentioned above. They are extreme examples of the selfishness pandemic that we are facing in our world today. But all sin is a form of selfishness.
I have told you before that the word holy means “other.” To be holy as God is holy calls us to be separate from the desires of the world. We do not have to look around the world very far to see distortions of the call to holiness that Jesus issued to his church. We don’t need to look beyond ourselves to find some areas that need greater holiness. But the “filth and evil excess” that we bemoan in our better times fills us with the desire for God’s holiness to break into our world.
The closing line from James’ reading today tells us so much.
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this:
to care for orphans and widows in their affliction
and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”
This is our call to holiness. This is what set apart early Christians from the pagan Roman world. Caring for widows and orphans was not something that was common among Roman thought. Christianity brought that care into the Western world. There are vestiges of that moral life still clinging to our society. But so much of it has been set aside and so many people are stained by the sins of the world.
We are called to something different. We are called to be holy as our Heavenly Father is holy. But we cannot – we dare not – excuse our society in its sin. We must call them to the holiness that will set them free. These perversions are not freedom. They are a bondage to evil and are damaging to souls.
There is one more verse from our reading today that I would like to leave you with: “He willed to give us birth by the word of truth that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” This is what God wills for us. This is our forever life in heaven. The firstfruits of heaven reside in our souls. The Truth does set us free.
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