Prayer and Sins
We’re almost done working our way through the book of James. In the last chapter, James spends time talking about the power of prayer, how Christians are supposed to treat one another, and the folly of riches. It’s a wrap-up for the entire book.
James begins in James 5 by condemning the rich men who are so focused on themselves and their wealth that they’ve ignored everything else around them. These rich men took advantage of their workers in order to make more riches. James condemns them, saying that in the last days, all their riches would mean nothing, and that they will be punished for all their sins. People can live evil lives for a while with seemingly no consequences, living a life that most people wish they had, but in the end, they have to suffer the consequences. Just because it doesn’t seem like you’re paying any consequences for the sin in your life doesn’t mean that there are none. Sometimes it takes a while. Is it really worth living for a moment of fun that you’re going to be paying off for the rest of your life?
James continues, and talks about the people in the church, giving them instructions on how to live with one another. He says not to grumble against our brothers (and sisters) in the Lord. If we have a problem with one of them, we need to go to them in love and tell them, not talk behind their back. We are also told, in James 5:16, that we need to confess our faults to one another. We need other believers to hold us accountable for our sins. It’s easier to stop sinning when our friends in the church know we have an issue. They can pray for us, as we pray for them.
James then says, in James 5:19-20, if we see another Christian sinning that we need to confront him, for by doing so, we save him from Death, and hide his sins. When we are sinning, sometimes we can’t see it, or don’t want to see it, and need someone to get our attention. While our first instinct is to lash out at them, we need to realize that what we are doing is wrong, and that they are just trying to help us.
In James 5:12, it says not to swear by any oath because our yes should be yes and our no should be no. What he’s saying is that we should be telling the truth all the time, we shouldn’t need to swear an oath in order to make people believe us. Throughout the Bible, God makes it incredibly clear that lying is evil and that He hates it. Why, then, do we lie?
The final point that James makes in this book is that we need to be cheerful. Even if we’re sick, or if our lives aren’t going the way we want them to, we need to keep praying and praising God. It’s hard a lot of the time, especially if we’re sick, but being cheerful and praying makes things a lot easier. It helps even more if you have other Christians around you, praying and being cheerful. We need to be patient as well, James says to look at the life of Job for an example. Even when everything around him was going wrong, he stayed true to God. We need to do the same. It may seem like God has forgotten us, but He hasn’t. Rather, we should ask ourselves this: have we forgotten Him? Pray without ceasing, even when things are going great, make sure you’re doing what God is calling you to do, and never forget about your brothers and sisters in Christ.
