the positive trajectory

Clay has been studying the book of James in snapshots recently. We've looked at the letter as a whole and sought to recognise the unifying elements within what seems to be disparate sections. We've been rebuked and exhorted about true care for the least and the lost in our local and global societies. We've seen that saving faith must by definition be accompanied by good works, otherwise it's not real faith at all. And tonight we're looking at true self-control, true wisdom, and measuring ourselves against more of James' tests of true religion.

I've just read John Dickson and Simon Smart's 'Half time pep-talk' from their 'commentary' on James, Vital Signs. It was so helpful I thought I'd type the whole thing out here to encourage and assure you too.

It would be easy to read James and feel weighed down by the expectations he has for people who follow Jesus. We might begin to feel these standards are too high to attain. In Mere Christianity CS Lewis gives a great explanation of the Christian faith and reminds us that while faith without deeds is worthless, the shape of the Christian life will look different for different people. Only God knows our hearts.

Lewis provides an extended answer to the critic who asks the question 'why, if Christians experience new birth are they not all obviously better people than non-Christians?' This is a fair question, concedes Lewis, but lacks understanding of what the Bible means by new birth.

Some people are given a head start in life with a good upbringing; stable home, education, love and stability. They may have a predisposition to kindness and calm temperament. Others are less fortunate. Saddled with broken and violent homes, insecurity, poverty, and trauma, they lack the social and emotional capacity to operate as effectively in the world.

The smallest act of kindness for the second person may, in fact, represent a triumph of new birth. The apparently virtuous acts of the more fortunate character might only be a paltry sign of what potential she has. 'What can you ever really know of other people's souls - of their temptations, their opportunities, their struggles?' Lewis asks.

God acts to bring about change in our hearts, and submitting to his ways places us on a trajectory towards a new creation. The change will be more noticeable in some people than others. The good news is that God promises to forgive and to keep working in our lives. He won't give up on us, even if we are tempted to give up on ourselves.

Dickson & Smart, Vital Signs, p125

Our prayer more and more is that God will help us all to be family members who know and love each other in the midst of all our struggles, who share with each other the things we struggle with, and who rejoice with each other over all the certain victories of the positive trajectory.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17