We grieve to see the white sails vanishing like white wings into the infinite blue; but we must not forget that these weather-stained argosies — built in the noon and rigged with blessings bright — have steered straight into port with mystic treasures which "wax not old," "eternal in the heavens." The children of God use them frequently (1 Corinthians 4:19; 1 Corinthians 16:7; Romans 1:10; Philippians 2:19). "The Lord God is a sun"; and our lives shine — everything in us and about us shines — just as we keep in the stream of His brightness. His love is the all-sufficient reply to the pains and losses of his. Another man says, "I shall do it, the thing is certain"; and when a difficulty is suggested, he answers, "Tut, do not tell me about my proposing and God's disposing; I will propose, and I will also dispose; I do not see any difficulty. It creates worlds, and peoples them with happy spirits. You may be true, righteous, honourable, but the spirit of the world may have such dominion over you that all spiritual desire may be extinguished, and spiritual power and sympathy lost. Every one seems to see somebody who is older than himself very well, yet alive; and then he thinks, "Why should not I live as long as that man?" Our life is struck through with uncertainty. And the same resource is free and open to every child of God. I shall succeed." Our ideals are fair and lovely to look upon. Is it an accession to sudden fortune? J. Macleane, M. To which purpose our Saviour Christ putteth the petition, concerning the will of God, before the things appertaining unto this life. The children of God know that all their goings are ordered by the Lord; therefore they often use these reservations of His will and power (Genesis 28:20; Hebrews 6:3).3. I say nothing of the terrible impiety of thus bidding God bide your time before you choose to obey His laws, nothing of the shame of thus turning God's mercies into an engine against your soul — nothing of the insolence of declaring that He has not meant anything by His anger. Is it so, O man, that thy life is self-governed? Is not this ignorance of ours a strong reason why we should rely upon the all-knowing God? If God's love fails to win men from their sins, where shall we discover the force that shall avail? It extends over all things — is co-extensive with the creation. It is the spirit of Diotrephes that produces the evils of sectarianism. The great Lord of all has no part in this scheme. )LinksJames 4:3 NIVJames 4:3 NLTJames 4:3 ESVJames 4:3 NASBJames 4:3 KJVJames 4:3 Bible AppsJames 4:3 ParallelJames 4:3 Biblia ParalelaJames 4:3 Chinese BibleJames 4:3 French BibleJames 4:3 German BibleJames 4:3 CommentariesBible Hub. 4. Is not this an important part of our life work? What great purpose have you set before yourself, for the accomplishment of which you are laying hold of all life's opportunities, and putting under contribution all of life's forces? But now I pass to the second thought which lies coiled up in the great question, "What is life?" That of the practical theist. Act up to what you know, or so much the worse for you. IV. Punctuality is simply a means of paying a debt to our fellows, and it is obedience to the irrevocable law of time. When we use these forms, the heart must go along with the tongue; common speeches, wherein God's name is used, if the heart be not reverent, are but profanations. But when I saw my sins, and realised the love of God, I could not refrain from weeping like a child." THE NATURE OF THE OBLIGATION WE LIE UNDER TO DO THE GOOD WE KNOW. Act up to what you know, or so much the worse for you. If he knows it he will be discontented till the happy hour arrives. Our ignorance of what the Divine providence will accomplish. The holy men of God have often purposed things to come, and yet not formally expressed such conditions.(T. Here, again, it may be seen how a pessimistic way of thinking often takes its rise. Do you put yourselves entirely at God's disposal? That was the highest ambition upon their minds. So widely contrasted is the destiny of that self-determining vapour human life. THEY PRACTICALLY DISREGARD THE TRANSITORINESS OF THEIR LIFE. The Warrior agreed but ask for some of his feathers to put on his arrows. 3. But death will become another thing to you if you are renewed in heart. Oftentimes character creates the contingency. As to the former, we are under great obligations from God and nature and Christianity to do the duties which belong to us in them. It ruins the past whatever it may have been. We have not been buying and selling, or losing, or getting gain only. To-day a man invests all he is worth in a promising speculation, and is in full and buoyant hope of an abundant return: tomorrow an event, such as no one could have anticipated, occurs, which sinks the markets, blasts his prospects, and leaves him to sigh over irretrievable ruin. The sermonic nature of this epistle is quite pronounced in this chapter, as in the third. Presently, a young girl, hovering a moment on the outer verge of the gay circle, stopped to exchange salutations with the venerable guest. If we know these things, Jesus says, blessed are ye if ye do them. A. Stillingfleet.It is hard for men under the plain precepts of the gospel not to know how to do good; but who is there that can say he doth all the good he knows? Let’s Quarrel About Quarreling Thus devoted souls pass through society rich in precious and holy influence; they drop as the rain and distil as the dew, and when they have passed out of sight you trace their passage by the rising flowers. In the life of our Lord, Christian brethren, we are to see the life of man represented as in a picture: what He has done we may do, not in our strength, of course, but here is the very blessing of the Christian Church, that we may rise above our own strength, we may claim union with Him "who was. As for heaven, you can go there as often as you will. "For what is your life? (b) Men cannot without sin omit the doing those duties which their places do require from them. Matthew 20:20-23, Matthew 11:12, Romans 8:26, James 4:3, Denomination: It may be the source of blasting, as the sulphurous vapour of the thunder-cloud. He not only loses his blessedness, but he — the most pure, moral man — is guilty of positive sin. 1. Employers and workmen array themselves against each other in hostile camps. 0.4% of our total human body weight. Let this clause, "If the Lord will," be written across your life, and let us all set ourselves to the recognition of God in the future. It may be well to make the best of both worlds; but of this poor world nothing can be made unless it be viewed in the light of another. ", 2. An empty life. You looked at the jewelled mass; it shone in the perfection of beauty, and all the colours of the rainbow were blended in its hues: in another instant, lo, it was not; it was gone past all recall. The Wisdom from Above -- James 3:13-4:3; Draw Near to God -- James 4:4-12; If the Lord Wills -- James 4:13-17; A T ROBERTSON. All things are present to Him; there is no past and no future to His all-seeing eyes. If life is the evidence of Divine love, then, I take it, there is the closest bond existing between God and man.  (view more) We know, I believe, pretty well in this congregation. 1. WHAT IS THE REAL NATURE OF "LIFE"? "The wicked boasteth of his heart's desire." What good would it do us? Though he thinks to himself, "Whatever comes in my way, I am always ready for it," he is greatly mistaken, and errs grievously. IT IS A CONFLICT. Some words are acts, some thoughts, some feelings are also acts. Suppose you take all the meausrements of a house, but never speak to the occupants! H. And the reason of considering this is from the comparison Of several duties with one another; for we may be bound to several things at the same time, but we cannot perform them together; and the difficulty then is to understand which of these duties we may omit without sin. III. One night the lad had turned off the lights and crawled into bed and had his )LinksJames 4:3 NIVJames 4:3 NLTJames 4:3 ESVJames 4:3 NASBJames 4:3 KJVJames 4:3 Bible AppsJames 4:3 ParallelJames 4:3 Biblia ParalelaJames 4:3 Chinese BibleJames 4:3 French BibleJames 4:3 German BibleJames 4:3 CommentariesBible Hub, (2)Unreasonably presumptive. II. If life is to be noble and blessed it must not be hurtful, not neutral, but beneficent. The Christian Character The pious housekeeper of Bengel, the German commentator, used to think that her master spent far too much time over his books and writings; she feared that his soul was in danger. 2. The sunless vapour is that murky weeping cloud which is the chosen image of misery, whilst the sun-smitten vapour spreads a smile on the face of day. This is that which is commonly called the love of God, and is opposed to the love of sin. We arrange that this is going to be done, and the other thing; but God puts forth His little finger, and removes some friend, or changes some circumstance, and all our propositions fail to the ground. II. The next life will much resemble this, according to their ideas. Let us, then, cultivate the one, and repress the other. We know it must. Seeing that these things are so, we should remember the brevity, the frailty, and the end of life. THE GROUNDS ON WHICH THIS SPIRIT IS CONDEMNED. The very heathens, by the light of nature, were wont to use these forms with some religion, and would seldom speak of any purpose of theirs without this holy parenthesis. It has grown into a proverb that we ought to expect the unexpected; for often the very thing happens which we thought would not happen. God has given each of us a certain amount of time on this earth. 2. The mother does not look upon her fairest children with more pride than the heart of man is prone to feel in looking at the works of its own service and contemplating the fruits of its own goodness. Such is our life — "a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.". 1. The power of flight, or the power of invisibility? (James 4:3) "You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? You hear of some one who has been an invalid for twenty-five years, and he always departs suddenly. and which, too, is the more truly happy? The truth is this — Knowledge without action is simply good for nothing. Our best profit will consist in doing God's will." Be wise and distinguish between the faith that waits patiently for the Lord, which looks to the morrow to confirm the blessings of to-day, and yet knows that the grace not secured to-day may not be vouchsafed to morrow, which has no fear of its days being cut short and its season of repentance brought to an untimely end, and yet would not postpone its repentance for an hour, knowing that "now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation"; whose hopes and plans are in the future, but it says, "If the Lord will we shall live to do this or that"; — distinguish this faith from the blind confidence which puts off the sad work of repentance to "a more convenient season," which, while the Spirit is crying "To-day if ye will hear His voice," answers inwardly, "Nay, but it shall be to-morrow," and so keeps the great work of life ever one day in advance, till postponement breeds indifference, impunity begets boldness, out of boldness comes defiance, procrastination sears the conscience, and so the last hour of all, to which folly has resolved to delay its acceptance of Christ's Atonement, is as full of security as if another morrow were still to come instead of the everlasting To-day of godless confusion, of impenitent remorse, of undying death; an Eternity without a future, but full of the vain boastings and evil rejoicings and shocking delusions of the past; haunted by the echoes of that fatal word which was once the soul's boast and stay, and still wailing in hopeless impotence the old dreary strain, "To-morrow."(A. This is Part 14 in a 14-part series of studies I call “The Christian Character” in the “Sermon on the Mount.” This part deals with Jesus' assurance - Ask, seek, and knock; the narrow gate; false prophets; and building on the rock. Today, we humbly ask you to defend Catholic Online's independence. (b) We are always bound to have an habitual disposition of mind towards God. As we set the Lord God before us and live in fellowship with Him the baser elements of life are purged, and we attain that purity of heart which is the condition of all joy and glory. The man who says this is supposed to feel it. that for Providence! Discipline is a test of character. First comes a distinct realisation and acknowledgment of God. A pure lip becometh a Christian. The duty of forgiving our enemies, and of promoting peace in the Church and in society. Nay, more, it surrounds these spirits with every influence that can evoke their love and satisfy their yearnings. Besides, it is useful to stir up reverence in ourselves, and for others' instruction. If God loves me, as you say, and has, therefore, bestowed upon me the gift of life, how is it that He has marred His gift by pain and loss and grief; has turned for me what might have been a blessing into what is little less than a curse? Our cemeteries vie with our cities. 3. A hundred years ago that oak seemed every way as venerable as it does to-day, whereas the man was then unthought of by his grandsire. We are glad that we do not know when our friends are to die; and we feel thankful that we cannot foretell when we shall depart out of this life. We boast, and we rejoice in our boasting, that we can do this and that and the other thing. Why, then, is it that we are always counting upon what we are going to do? Be seen in the third stage is that of open contention and discord - ye... Reason to be explained by an impassable gulf cherished plans and undertakings asserting... 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