James 1

James has been quite a challenge so far! After a week of personal study, I kind of realize why I hardly ever hear it preached on or study it in group Bible studies. Some commentaries I've read have said that certain scholars think there is no real clear theology in James. It's important though, to note that James was likely writing to Christian Jews who already had a pretty solid basis of theology. His focus landed more on practical living, as in, knowing what faith looks like and feels like. In some ways, this can be more challenging than talking about God theoretically isn't it?

For example, in the first chapter, one thing that James talks about is anger, speech and listening. These are 3 things that I know I deal with each and every day of my life. I'm much more prone to quickly get angry than to quickly listen. I say things that I really shouldn't. It's only natural, right? And yet according to James, it has everything to do with my faith. Being a 'doer' of God's Word means being slow to get angry, and being quick to listen. Lord, help me be a doer and not just a sayer or thinker.

So, I know that 'righteousness' can't really be measured. Because compared to God, our righteousness = 0. But I thought it might be fun/insightful to create 'infographics' based on what I'm learning in James. Here are a couple from chapter 1:

click to enlarge