But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. James 1:22 Since my dad is from Minnesota and since most of his family still lives there, I have been there many times for family reunions. On one occasion, he took us kids to an old train

Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! James 3:5 I was splitting wood with my brother in preparation for the winter. In the course of all the sawdust flying around from a combination of the chain saw and the wood splitter, a small piece of sawdust found its way past my eyelid and into the very personal space known as my eyeball. N

Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. James 1:15 I am going to mark this down right here for the record: I do not like hot sauce. To be honest, I have never understood people who do. I met with a long-time friend of mine recently to eat at a Mexican restaurant. As he ate his hot food, his nose began to run, and he began to sweat. I ask

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. James 4:7 When I persist in known sin, I need revival. Let me ask you a few hard-hitting questions. Do you look at things on the internet that you know are not pleasing to God? Do you w

Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. James 2:18 Having been involved in sports my whole life, I can say with certainty that kids want the approval of their parents when they are playing sports. I can still remember the unbridled satisfaction I felt when my parents were in attendance at my sporting events, especially when I scored for our team. It is o

He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends. Proverbs 17:9 Between my years of growing up with a wood stove and now having a wood stove of my own, I have split a lot of firewood in my life. In that time, I have come across some pieces of wood that were extremely difficult to split because they were gnarled and knotted and had obviously been fused together fo

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. James 4:14 I have always enjoyed visiting the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. To see the old farms, the wil

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. Isaiah 61:1 Deep inside a giant

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this…to keep himself unspotted from the world. James 1:27 On a scale from one to ten, what level of crazy (or desperate) do you think someone would have to be to go dig through the county dump to find their dinner? Most normal people do their grocery shopping at a grocery store, and they wouldn’t dream of going to the dump for groceries. I have to admi

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. James 1:12 From the time you were little, doctors have probably poked you with needles in the form of shots and vaccinations. In fact, if you could see your shot record, it would make you wonder how you haven’t lost all your bodily fluids through the many holes poked in your skin. But they have all been for a purpose: vacci

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7 Everyone loves a good sneeze – at least normal people do. It is hard to explain that fact, but the feeling you’re left with after the blast of a good sneeze is one with which it is hard to compete. I was discussing that wonderful feeling with some of my students a few weeks ago, and it gave me an idea. I suppose there is no feasible way to actually do it, but I thought about how wonderf

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. James 4:14 The other day, one of the guys in my teen group said he didn’t want to just make a million dollars; he said he wanted to make a billion. So I asked him what he would actually do if he even had only a million dollars. He started trying to list some things he would buy. He said he would buy a bunch of CD