Wednesday, April 21, 2010

The James Experiment: Day 1 - James 1

It took me a while to decide whether or not to post this, but I learned a lot, so maybe you can too. First, the community group I am lucky to be a part of is absolutely astonishing. All. The. Time. Second, we just studied James.

To begin, James is Jesus’s half-brother (or most speculate). If Jesus was NOT drastically different than any other guy, his little brother would be trying to beat him up or cover up his embarrassing blasphemy rather than tell the world to worship Him. Next, James is all about action. Just Do It. No more of this talk, but step up and do something. Quite relevant to Dallas...

James has 5 chapters, and coincidentally, so does a work-week. This inspired me to do a little experiment: to literally and completely alter my life for a week. Each day had a very different predetermined action (some worldly, some biblically), based on the chapter. I'll post day-by-day how it played out…

Day 1: James 1

Major theme: Preservation through suffering, temptation

Action: Obviously the theme applies to every aspect of life. But, I wasn’t going to create a real-life struggle, so I had to make up something, which became a water only fast. Being diligent and hungry? It’s amazing how our “god is our stomach”.

Lessons learned: Not eating takes major focus, more than I expected. Several times, I almost ate something because I was hungry and had simply forgotten that I wasn’t eating. Avoiding temptation in regard to the things that we regularly struggle with takes intense focus as well. We have to consciously make a decision and stick with it. "...rather, train yourselves to be godly." -1 Timothy 4:7

Being hungry also makes one cranky, tired, sick-feeling, and overall less cheerful. To make a water fast more relevant to perseverance in trials, I purposely chose a day where I am expected to be the all-so-ever happy girl as well as be around food all day. It became amazing how much I had to rely on Christ to ensure I was appropriately representing Him, not being either fake or negative, and simply not eating. Hunger definitely heightens your senses in Twilight style proportions –okay maybe not that much –but God’s handiwork became increasingly obvious. Ex: the perfect song at the perfect time. Phenomenal worship to refresh me. Unexplainable peace. A phone call when needed. Also, I realized major opportunities that probably are always there but often go overlooked. It reminded me of 1 Corinthians 10:13 “...But when you are tempted he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” God always gives us another way, we just have to stop focusing on our sin long enough to see it.

This day also brought to mind how easily we justify and rationalize our actions. We tend to live in this world of grey, but sometimes things are simply black and white. Often, sin is black and white. Interestingly, the concept of ‘water only’ is very black and white, but I found myself coloring it grey. Did I really mean, ONLY water? What about tea, that’s mostly water? Can I put fruit in it to jazz it up a bit? Of course this is a silly example, but has real world application. I’m quite guilty of living in grey, being able to present a stellar case to convince myself and others that whatever I want to do is 'right' or within the will of God. But in actuality, sometimes it just isn’t. Granted, I’m not talking about what Christians often consider a “major sin” (all sin is the same, but that’s for another day) but rather the things we consider “minor sin”. If you tell a lie to not hurt someone’s feelings, surely that is justifiable, right? What about not confessing a struggle and just pretending it didn’t happen? If it only affects you, will that be okay? I’m not God, so I don’t know the answer. But, life can be difficult, confusing, and messy; maybe we should cherish the aspects that are black and white.

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