james, jesus' half brother, wrote a letter to twelve christian tribes who were scattered among the nations (vs. 1). the idea is that they were facing serious oppression and they were in dire need of some good old fashioned encouragement. james serves them a tall glass of this is how it is, saying to these poor and persecuted peoples that they should consider it pure joy when they face hardships (vs.2). while reading his letter, i'm sure this is the first of many times the tribes thought "but james, that's awfully silly." these people had been evicted from their hometowns, and through that process, all their dignity and possessions had been taken from them. silly indeed. and so it would be, if we quit right there. that's a very unsettling place to quit reading, so we choose to go on...
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Friday, August 3, 2012
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