The Word of Our God Will Stand Forever

Meditations in the Season of Lent 

March 10, 2023

The Word of Our God Will Stand Forever

In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

James 1:18 (NRSV)

Read: James 1:9-18

James packs much instruction into this short passage. Invoking the principles of the Kingdom Jesus taught, such as the last shall be first, James contrasts the rich and the poor to make the point we find our true purpose as the children of God, not in achieving wealth and fame in the world’s culture.

James believed cherishing the values of the Kingdom will help us avoid being lured away from God by our sinful desires. He makes the strong case that God does not tempt us; we can handle that all on our own. When James emphasizes the fidelity of God, we are reminded that God will lead us and give us wisdom, as we learned yesterday, but God will not tempt us, lie to us, or shame us on a guilt trip to get us to follow him.

James used the powerful words in Isaiah 40:7-8 to stress that God’s primary way of relating to his children is through his word:

  The grass withers, the flower fades,

    when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;

    surely the people are grass.

 The grass withers, the flower fades;

    but the word of our God will stand forever.

My Takeaway: Implicit in referring to us as ‘first fruits’ (v.18) is the truth there are more fruits to come. This is accomplished when we bring others to Christ, and when we fully cooperate with God in his work to form Christ in us. (See Philippians 1:6, 13, Colossians 1:26-28)

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.