Restoration

An Exposition on the Book of James Part 24

If you haven’t yet, please check out part 1 of this series. The ideas of the book of James are all centered around the idea of a perfectly forged faith that makes us perfect.

MY wife and I were looking for houses, and we asked her dad – a general contractor to tag along. His chief concern at every house we went to was the foundation. Is the foundation showing signs of failure. As Christians, when we get around other Christians, we should be looking at their life with some of the same enthusiasm. As parents, we should examine our children often. As a husband, I must look at my relationship to my wife and ask this question. How is the foundation holding up? That brings us to the last portion of James. The entire letter of James has been around this idea of allowing God to forge or form in us a perfect faith that makes us more like him – that is perfect. Sometimes, people lose sight of what God is doing, and they may slip into err.

This may seem like an odd way to end the epistle, and it does seem strange at first glance, but if you think about the trials of the faith that you have gone through, or maybe one that someone else went through – you might see that restoring someone who has lost their zeal for God is a really practical way to end this book. People who have lost loved ones at times they didn’t expect. people who have had their health stripped from them. Many may ask, is this truly the will of God? We end this study with the goal of lifting up those who have lost their core belief – or those going through a trial that might make them doubt the foundational truths of the Word of God. “If the foundations be destroyed how shall the righteous stand?”

James 5:19-20 KJV

Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;

Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

I want to end this study with a personal note to you. I may not know you, what you have been through, or the hurts in your past. I don’t pretend to understand all that you have gone through and how that has shaped you. I don’t know your relationship to God, or if you even believe in him. I do know something very, very important though:

God has made you for a purpose, and he loves you beyond your deepest understanding. There is no pain that you have ever felt that he has not personally known. He understands your deepest sorrow, and he knows your greatest joys. Whatever you have gone through, he has allowed for a reason that is beyond any earthly comprehension. This may sound corny and you may not believe it, but I know it is true:

God Loves You!

Do not let the past hurt you’ve felt keep you from a savor who loves you. If you have not experienced that new birth that comes from knowing Jesus please read born again.

S.T.
Acts 20:24
"But none of these things move me..."