Terry Storch

Writing about life, leadership, faith, and anything else I find interesting.

James 4:1-12 - Posture not Position

 

James 4:1-12 - Posture not Position

Robin and I have been married for over twenty-two years. She is the joy of my life, and I can not imagine doing life without her. But along the way, our relationship has had many ups and many downs. We have grown a lot, and honestly, we have many battle scars to show for it. One thing we have learned in our marriage is posture is more important than position. Let me unpack that for you. Our marriage was not improved by position, or how close we were physically with each other. There were many times we were together a lot, but we acted more like roommates than husband and wife. Our proximity or our position was close, but the reality was we were miles apart from one another. 

On the other hand, when our posture towards each other was in the right spot, and we were honoring, generous, and loving towards each other, our position didn’t matter because our posture was correct. There were years when I was traveling a lot, and my position was thousands of miles away from Robin, but my posture was in check, and we were closer and more unified and operating as one body because our posture was right. The posture of the heart is a critical ingredient for any relationship, and that goes for our relationship with God as well. James dives into this topic in chapter four.

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet, but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” - ‭‭James‬ ‭4:1-3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We read here about posture and position. Fights and quarrels are coming from a poor posture and bend towards desire and coveting. James even calls out the distorted prayers we can often loft God's way, the selfish and self-centered prayers asking and desiring God’s help for our pleasures being meet and our treating God like a holy slot machine. I read this and think of those who might be in a position that looks right, possibly attending church, maybe even writing a check now and again as an offering, and even lobbing a prayer God's way for dinner. That position, just like the example I gave with Robin, does not equate to a relationship and does not line up with what the Bible shows us a genuine connection with Christ. 

“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” - ‭‭James‬ ‭4:4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We can not have both; we can not be a fully devoted follower of Christ and be a friend of the world. Think about it in terms of position, or your physical location...you can not be in two places at one time. Our heart, can not have two masters, it can not be following Jesus and coveting things, and chasing after things of this world. Let me scare you for a moment because these words are severe. James says anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. This does not say we see God as an enemy, and this tells us that God looks at us as His enemy. That is serious, we make ourselves an enemy of God when we chose to be friends with the world. 

So what do we do? Well, in a very James-like fashion, he tells us, and it requires work and effort on our part. I liked how the Message translated this part. 

“So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.” - ‭‭James‬ ‭4:7-10‬ ‭MSG‬‬

This is a posture of brokenness, and posture of humility and emptying our lives to Christ. These words ring so true, the playing the field, dabbling in sin, fun, and games...this is what sin can do to us, and feel like - all fun and games at the moment and then leave us for dead on the side of the road just a few hours, days or weeks later. It all looks so good, so sexy, and alluring until we are wrapped up in a death grip, and our lives are out of control. 

We must trade our position for the right posture. Being in church doesn’t mean anything if our posture towards God is wrong. Being in God's Word doesn’t mean anything if our motive and heart towards our neighbor is slanderous. Let this sink in;

“Anyone can say, “I love God,” yet have hatred toward another believer. This makes him a phony, because if you don’t love a brother or sister, whom you can see, how can you truly love God, whom you can’t see?” - ‭‭1 John‬ ‭4:20‬ ‭TPT‬‬

The posture of our heart translates into the actions of our lives. No matter where we are right now with our position, we can submit ourselves to God, come before Him humbly, and he will lift us up. Lord, that is our prayer, we come before you broken and seeking your forgiveness and favor. We desire our posture to glorify you, and for our posture to translate into a life that loves others. 

other writing
John 20 - The Gospel

John 20 - The Gospel

The Gospel, the Good News! Jesus, Son of God, was born of Mary, lived as the Son of Man, died, and rose to life to rescue the world and bring about a new life. The central message of the gospel. Jesus, the centerpiece! John 19 & 20 cover the brutal death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

In this scene, I can not imagine how the disciples felt. John describes them as overjoyed...but those words just fall short of what I can imagine this moment was like.

John 19 - The Magnitude of the Cross

John 19 - The Magnitude of the Cross

The day of Jesus' crucifixion fulfilled 28 Old Testament prophecies. Scripture was fulfilled! Beyond that, trying to wrap my mind around what happened this day, on the cross, and fully grabbing the magnitude of the cross is mind-boggling.

Sure, we can dumb this down or simplify it to a place where I just don’t believe it is anywhere near accurate. We can get into penal substitution and argue over was God full of love or was God full of wrath and hate that he killed his son. To me, John 3:16 is pretty clear on the love part.

John 18 - Jesus levels an army

John 18 - Jesus levels an army

In John 18, we come to the great betrayal. Judas came with the soldiers, officials, and chief priest and Pharisees. We know the scene. But this morning, I saw something I don’t remember reading and surly don’t remember learning about.

“So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons. Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.” - ‭‭John‬ ‭18:3-6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

John 17 - The Lords Prayer

John 17 - The Lords Prayer

John 17 is Jesus looking heavenward and praying to God the Father. So much beauty and mystery in this prayer. One thing that jumps out to me is that Jesus, fully God, and fully man prayed. Jesus is God fully. Why did he need to pray, He was One with the Father, He was God...and yet he prayed. This is so powerful;

“And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” - ‭‭John‬ ‭17:5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

John 16 - What does it take to believe?

John 16 - What does it take to believe?

By the end of John 16, Jesus had done countless miracles, preached some amazing sermons, transformed so many lives, and developed a close and personal relationship with his disciples. So, when reading these verses, I am just utterly confused on so many levels.

“I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.” “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied.” - ‭‭John‬ ‭16:28-31‬ ‭NIV‬‬

John 16 - Undervaluing God in Spirit

John 16 - Undervaluing God in Spirit

Jesus’ time on earth is quickly coming to a close, and he finishes up his last sermon or teaching to his disciples as they walk to Gethsemane. This final teaching was a heavy one that no doubt left his disciples with a heavy heart. Jesus said it this way;

“...None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things.” - ‭‭John‬ ‭16:5-6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus goes on to say;

John 15 - Constant Growth

John 15 - Constant Growth

We were built for growth, constant growth. From birth, all the way until our death, we were designed by God for constant growth. The problem is, we often can find ourselves stuck in a belief, a phase, or a part of life where we stop growing.

One of the most brilliant investors embodies this understanding. Charlie Munger, at 96 years old, is still learning and growing as a person. I love this quote:

“Knowing what you don’t know is more useful than being brilliant.”
- Charlie Munger

John 14 - The Gift of Peace

John 14 - The Gift of Peace

John 14 opens with Jesus, saying, Don’t let your hearts be troubled. And the chapter closed down with Jesus saying Don’t be troubled or afraid.

A message that needs to resonate with our spirit and our inner self. This was such a good reminder, reading through John 14 over and over. This passage lifted off the screen.

“But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart…

John 14 - Troubled Hearts

John 14 - Troubled Hearts

The world today seems so volatile and chaotic. Everywhere you look, whatever we read and see on TV just seems to be troubling. Last night, I noticed my lovely wife Tweeted this;

“I can’t be the only one who watches the news and is simply embarrassed right now, right? (Dear Jesus, we tap out. Come on back.)”

I find this first humorous, but then I also find it sad. It’s true, watching the news as a Christ-follower is pretty embarrassing. In John 14, we see Jesus…

John 13 - Unselfish Concern

John 13 - Unselfish Concern

Summarizing John, chapter 13, looks like this. The Lords Supper takes place. Jesus washes the disciple's feet. Jesus calls out Judas, and Satan enters him. Night comes, Judas leaves, and Jesus says he must go, and where I am going, you can not come. To cap it all off, Jesus also calls out Simon Peter and tells him that he will deny and completely disown Jesus three times. Whoa, a really full chapter, and historical day.

Nestled in the wrap up of the day is the parting message Jesus leaves his disciples, a message Jesus is sharing with us right now.

 
thoughtsTerry Storch