Friday,
February 3, 2023
The words of Apostle James flow as if a peaceful, cold stream of welcome
water, refreshing a thirsty man trudging through the desert. He presents a word picture of Godly wisdom
(from above) that is healing and strength for anyone who would influence his
generation for peace. A true poet, James
holds up the fruit of good deeds as an agricultural image of the
holy grail of wisdom, resulting in a harvest of righteousness. It’s a verbal feast of wholesome nourishment
for any soul that longs for Godliness.
Apostle James is lost on a culture preferring an elephant stampede over a
quiet contemplation next to a peaceful stream in the valley. For all the shrewd intellect creating
mind-bending technological toys, released each year with much fanfare by Apple
and its imitators, we have unhinged the consequence of our progress from the
process. We dabble with artificial
intelligence, not intentionally planting seeds of righteousness in human
children, to point the machines in peaceful directions. We have six-year-olds, enamored by heroes of
violence on their screens, bringing a gun to school to shoot their teachers. They don’t have a clue that momentary act of
selfish impulse will extinguish any peace their future could possibly
hold. In foolishness, like Esau, we
forfeit the legacy of birthright to satisfy the craving for a pottage of the
next half-second’s thrill of power.
So, what’s to be done? Is there a
possibility of ever reclaiming something of a harvest of righteousness in the
present caustic soil of selfishness and anger?
Are we doomed to starve for the lack of goodness? Is there no peace whatsoever in our
future? I believe the answer to each of
those questions is an unqualified YES, unless we are
willing to return to planting wise seeds of purity, gentleness, kindness,
mercy, hope, and worship of God in Christ Jesus. If there will ever be a crop of
righteousness, preparing the soil comes first.
The best grapes come from cultivated vines. Those vines were planted long ago, and
cared-for. As the lineage of God’s
people, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph recalled the mistakes of their forbears,
and culled the weeds from their lives, all the while making new mistakes for
the following generations to unravel, we must choose each day to plant new
vines for a righteous harvest. What seed
do you hold in your hand right now?
There are about 2,000 devotional
posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions
library. To dig deeper on
today’s topic, explore some of these:
The Marriage of Belief and Behavior and Humility
This is an updated version of
“So Much Anger” published on Rocky Road Devotions January 16, 2014
Images: Title Pixabay.com Images without citation are either personal
property of the author, or in public domain.
Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
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