Sickness and Wandering; Prayer and People

So, we come to the end of the book of James. Our premise is, Wisdom works. The pragmatist says something like this, “This works so it must be true.” The Bible says something totally antithetical to the wisdom of the world; it says, “This works because it is true.” The closer we align our lives with the “oughtness" of things, the more our lives will come together. James has argued that real wisdom is living out the profession we make. And as we have seen over the last two months—this is hard. I mean, the image of the Christian life is summed up in a cross—an instrument of death. Jesus made the way of the cross the way of wisdom, “my life for yours,” “death before resurrection.” I will admit that much of the time this is a faith issue. The way of the world offers a seemingly easier road to joy and happiness. And yet….is this really true? The Bible says that “for the joy set before him” Jesus endured the cross. In other words, a cross-filled life leads to a joy-filled life, but not like you would think!As we come to the end of the matter this week, James ends with talking about sickness and wandering, prayer and people. This has troubled commentators for years. Why this? Does James just throw this end as random things? Is there a method to the madness? I have pondered this for a couple of weeks now and can only conclude that this is perfectly planned, and here is why. Given all James has said of wisdom and the Christian life, two things are true: first, you can’t do this without prayer—much prayer; and second, you will have seasons when you will wander. Like the song says, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.” So James ends with the need for prayer and a community of people with whom you are lashed to the mast, folks who love you enough to not baptize bad behavior.I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I just read in an email from Sage Hill Counseling this quote by Cicero that speaks of the wisdom we all need, living as we do in a broken world: “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, it is the parent of all others.” May your hearts be filled with gratitude as we gather from our scattered tables to the one table that truly binds us together.Blessings,Jim