Saturday, September 11
Read James 1
Think About It:
- The book of James is believed to have been written by Jesus’ brother James. How does the author identify himself in verse 1? It’s interesting to think what it must have been like to grow up with Jesus. I wonder when James became convinced that Jesus is the Son of God. I’m sure there were some challenges in that, see John 7:3-5.
- What attitude should we have when we fall into various trials? (verse 2)
- What fruit will the testing of our faith produce? (verses 3-4)
- What should we do if we lack wisdom? (verses 5-8)
- We are blessed when we endure temptation but if we give into it, it leads to sin and eventually death.
- Jesus was tempted in everything just like we are, but He never sinned. Temptation is not sin – acting on the temptation is sin.
Family Time:
- How should we feel about trials (hard times)? (verse 2) Why do we go through trials? (verses 3-4)
- When we are tempted to do bad things or when we go through trials, does that mean God is against us? (verses 12-13)
- Many times, we want to fit in. We want to be saved Christians and be accepted by the world. Not being accepted by people or being treated like we are weird doesn’t feel very good. What happens when we follow God’s Word by being doers? (verse 25) How can we keep ourselves pure and undefiled (believing the right stuff)? (verse 27) How do you think doing these things keeps us on the right track? Can you think of some other ways too?
