James was writing to help Christians fight a deadly infection. These Jewish Christians, far from home in the dispersion were slipping far from Christ. They were favouring the rich, they were growing lazy in their love, they were trying to mix Jesus with the world.
We know that our faith, or our love, for the Lord is growing cold when the fight against sin becomes weak. We no longer fight sin with the intensity that is willing to cut off our right hand, we make our peace with it instead. James wants his readers, and us, to fight sin with truth and beauty.
Fight sin with truth. Remember that sin leads to death. This is message in verse 14. First we're lured away by our own desire. Something or someone looks good, are desire is inflamed. Desire leads to sin. We go and get want we want. We gossip. We lust. We covet. And these things, when they're grown, bring forth death. Gossip kills. Lust kills. Coveting kills. Why? Because sin kills. James pleads with his hearers to remember this truth and to know that sin is not something to play with, not something to laugh about, not something to imitate, but something to flee from. We sin because we believe the lie that sin is harmless, so remember the truth that sin will lead to death.
And we sin because we think it will make us happy, something that James fights in the next paragraph. He wants us to know that every good gift, and every perfect gift comes from above. God is committed to our happiness, there is no shadow of turning with Him. He made us for Him, He made us for this happy holiness, and will never turn away from this plan. So what makes you happy? Not sin. Not sin! But God. The Bible never says 'just say no,' it says 'say yes to what is better.' Say yes to Jesus. He is the holder of all the good in the universe, He has pleasures forever at His right hand. Not just fleeting, sickly happiness, but joy, beautiful joy, forever. We sin because we think it will make us happy, so remember that every good thing comes from God, and from His hand alone.
Fight sin today with truth and beauty.
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