Removing Wrong Things || James 1:21 || Weekend Wind-Down #11

Welcome to the eleventh week of “Weekend Wind-Down.” This series is where we take the verse of the day, look at the face value interpretation, check the background and context of the verse, do a deeper dive on the focus scripture, and figure out what we can walk away with. 

Today’s verse is James 1:21, which says this: 

21 – So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. 

Face Value

Remove the things that don’t align with the truth of God and accept the teachings of the Bible because they can save us. 

Background

James is about exposing the hypocritical practices of persecuted Christians and teaching his audience how Christians should live. In their rough situations, they got tempted to let intellectual arguments pass for the genuine faith that transforms us. We need to put our faith into action. True faith produces loving actions toward others. 

Deep Dive

James wants us to get rid of everything wrong in our lives and accept the salvation message we have received. 

Ephesians 4:22 shares with us these wrong things:

22 – throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 

What are lust and deception mentioned by Paul?

• Lust – unbridled sexual desire; an intense desire
• Deception – something that deceives; tricks 

1 Peter 2:1 shares with us these wrong things:

1 – So, get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech

What are these wrong things that Peter shares with us?

• Deceit – fraud, trickery, lying
• Hypocrisy – feigning to be what one is not. 
• Jealousy – a jealous feeling, disposition, or attitude
  • Jealous – intolerant of rivalry or unfaithfulness, hostile toward a rival.
• Slander/Unkind Speech – to malign or defame

Take-Home Point

Today, we receive six examples connected to our focal scripture: lust, deception, deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and slander. These are things to remove from our lives and replace them with the message of salvation. 

We often equate lust with intense sexual desire definition, such as seeking sex for pleasure, masturbation, or other related activities. We often ignore the idea that we can lust after anything. We can lust after money, lifestyles, relationships, and more. It’s an intense desire, often shown as gaining something because we want it. Our discussion today focuses on removing this from our lifestyles. How? It involves learning how to be content. Be grateful for what you have at the moment. There is always something we can be grateful for, whether it be the food we cook, the place we live, or even the first breath we take when we wake up. Let’s replace lust with gratitude. 

What can deceive us? The first thing that comes to mind is social media. Social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, can paint an untrue picture of one’s life. We often share our successes with others so they can celebrate them with us, but we don’t post about the panic attacks we have, the losses we endure, or the fears we live with daily. We can look at the joyous lives of others and feel jealousy and envy. We can want that. We often want that but don’t know the struggles that come with that. Our discussion today talks about removing this from our lifestyles. How? We can do it with rationality. We can look at the story and think how they might have gained that lifestyle. We can think about the struggles someone went through to develop the life they live. We can develop empathy for their struggles and connect over a struggle that you might have gone through too. Let’s replace deception with rationality.

Hypocrisy is something that I don’t hear a lot nowadays. We don’t look at hypocrisy as tightly as we used to. Hypocrisy shows that people don’t walk the walk they talk about. Their words dictate one thing, but their actions can be the opposite. It’s hard to build trust with someone who appears hypocritical. It’s hard to see how reliable a hypocrite is. How do we replace hypocrisy with our lives? Transparency. If you’re having a rough day, share it with that person and say you can’t give as much as you typically do. If we want something from someone, ask the question. The worst answer you can get is no. Being transparent shows vulnerability, honesty, and connection. Let’s replace hypocrisy with transparency. 

Slander is so common nowadays, especially in cancel culture. It’s easy to call someone out on social media, generate the hate fire that comes with it, and knock someone off their pedestal, right or wrong. We are afraid to call someone out in person because we’re hesitant about the response, the fear of judgment, or whether or not this person will lash out physically or verbally. Then we don’t call them out personally; we gossip about them with others. Whether this person has done good or wrong things, we’ll talk with our friends, coworkers, classmates, and even strangers about this person and their actions instead of going directly to them. How do we change this? Silence. Hear me out on this. Instead of sharing the slander and gossip, what happens if we keep it to ourselves? What happens if we only share it with God or in controlled situations with people who cannot share it forward, such as during counseling sessions with a therapist or a pastor? What happens if we pull the person we want to slander and gossip about aside and have the necessary deep conversation? How would it change our souls, our personalities, or our perspectives? Let’s replace slander with silence.

Thank you for joining me for this Weekend Wind-Down as we explored how to remove the harmful things from our lives through the New Testament books of James, Ephesians, and Romans. Stay tuned for the next reflection. Let me close out with prayer. 

Father God, thank you for showing us how we should live our life through your perfect example, as shown through Jesus. Thank you for the examples of how to live in a Christ-like manner. Please help me to control my emotions in the ways that you designed them to be. Please help me to take those emotions that aren’t from you and align our emotions with you first. It’s in your name; we pray. Amen.