James 4:9

 James 4:9 says, Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.  Instead of calling on Christians to be full of happiness and the joy of the world, James said they were to be afflicted and mourn and weep, I believe over the condition of the lost people of the world.  We should never just go about life as if everything is okay as followers of Christ, but we should be mourning the fate of the lost people and reaching out to them with God's love. 

Verse ten adds, Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.  James said if we humble ourselves before God that He will lift us up, spiritually I believe.  I don't think this means if we are humble before God that He is going to lift us up materially, though some Christians seem to believe that. 

Verse eleven continues, Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.  James then stated that Chrisitans should never speak evil about other Chrisitans.  We see a lot of bickering and outright quarreling in the church today because one person or even group of people don't agree about God's law, but we are forgiven by God's grace and not by the law of God.  If we put ourselves under the law once more to judge others, then we are not doers of the law, but are judges of others. 

Verse twelve concludes, There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?  James said that there is but one lawgiver, and that is God, and then asks since that is true, why do we try to judge others about their relationship with God.  This is still the question we need to ask ourselves today.

James 5:5

James 5:5 says, Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.  James said that people had lived for pleasure and wantonly here on the earth and had nourished their hearts as people do their bodies on the days when animals were slaughtered for food.  They were thinking only of their own pleasure and were not concerned about the needs of others.  We see so much done by those who are rich and famous today to only feed their own desires and pleasures without having any concern for other people, especially the poor and needy.

Verse six adds, Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.  James said that while they were feeding their lusts that they had killed the just, or those who had put their faith in Jesus Christ, which is the only way we can become just.  He also said that the just had not resisted them. 

Verse seven continues, Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.  Speaking to his brethren, or other Christians, James told them to be patient, just like a man in charge of the harvest was patient while waiting for fruit to be ready to harvest.  He said this man would have to have patience as he waited for the early and latter rains to help the harvest grow.  We need to be patient as we do what God calls us to do today as we put the harvest of our faith in His hands.  

Verse eight concludes, Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.  James makes it clear here that those who are followers of Christ should be patient and establish their hearts in faith.  He also said that the coming of the Lord was drawing nigh.  The thought that the return of Jesus Christ is close to occurring is nothing new.  Christians have believed this since He was crucified, and like all other Chrisitans throughout the ages, we just need to live patiently by faith, until we die or He returns.   

James 5:1

James 5:1 says, Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.  I believe this refers to rich men who believe in their riches and not in God.  They believe that their riches make them better than other people and that is all they are concerned with.  If they do, one day when God's judgment comes, they will weep and howl in misery.  I don't believe that being rich means a person cannot be saved, but if they put their riches above faith in Jesus Christ then one day they will be held accountable.  

Verse two adds, Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.  James said their riches were corrupted and their clothes were motheaten.  Riches are corrupted when they are more important to someone than faith in God is, and no matter how fine one's garments may be, they will one day be nothing more than moth eaten rags.  We cannot take our riches with us to heaven, so we shouldn't put our faith in them now.  

Verse three continues, Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.  James said that they had put their faith in things that would become corrupted and that one day they would eat their flesh as if it were fire.  I don't believe that this means that rich people would literally eat their flesh in this lifetime, but that their flesh would be burned by the fire in hell.  

Verse four continues, Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.  James then said that those who had done the work and were cheated by the rich people, or their employers, would be heard by God, even if they weren't heard by their employers.  As with the rich, I don't believe this means all poor people will be saved, but those who are will be heard by God when they cry out for justice.    

James 4:13

James 4:13 says, Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:  James said that someone might make plans to go into a city and live there for a year without asking if this was God's will for them, I believe is the implication.  People, even Christians, may make all sorts of future plans without asking if it is God's will, but that doesn't mean that they are going to happen.  

Verse fourteen adds, Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.  James then reminds us that life is very short and unpredictable, comparing it to a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.  Though our souls will live forever, we cannot be sure that we physically have the next second, much less the next day, week, or year, no matter what age we might be. 

Verse fifteen continues, For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.  James then tells us that we should put all or plans under the will of God.  Even when we pray, we should pray for God's will to be done and not for our will or desires. 

Verse sixteen states, But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.  James said people rejoiced in their boastings and that all such rejoicing is evil.  If we begin to boast about how great we are, instead of giving God the glory, then such boasting or rejoicing in our accomplishments as though we and not God are responsible for them, then that is evil.   

Verse seventeen adds, Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is a sin.  James then tells us that if we know to do good, and don't do it, that for such a person, it is sin.  We, as followers of Christ, should know what is good in God's sight, and if we don't do what we know God would have us do, then we are guilty of falling into sin once more.