The doctor will see you now

I’ve been revisiting the letter of James recently. To be honest it’s a bit of a kick in the spiritual teeth. He doesn’t mince his words.

Now, I am prone to be quite a spiritual masochist. I enjoy leaving church feeling like I have been confronted; reprimanded; given extra homework. James’ letter isn’t that.

It’s more like this: we probably know people who knew they were off-colour; felt under the weather; spotted a few weird things going on in their bodies. However, when they finally got themselves to the doctors for a check-up, they were immediately sent to hospital for blood tests and scans, only to be told they were seriously ill and in need of urgent treatment. Well, reading James is that sort of consultation.

Maybe, like me, you know you’re not quite as spiritually on the ball as you should be – a bit flabby in your faith; not quite up to speed on your godliness; slipping back into bad habits, and you know you need a gentle prod in the right direction. I mean, I don’t swear much anymore or nick pens from work, or sleep with people I’m not married to, or murder people I don’t like...

So? But James doesn’t just give us the spiritual equivalent of Calpol. He runs a few tests and announces that, actually, Christian, you are very ill indeed and if you don’t have treatment, you are in grave danger.

Pushing the medical analogy – our hospitals are full of dying people who ignored the onset of their symptoms. They pretended not to notice the drastic weight-loss. They thought if they ignored the lump it would go away. They deceived themselves and now it’s too late.

Our problem is – we are masters of spiritual self-deception: Just look with me, in the first chapter, how James warns the Christian about deceiving themselves.

1:16 – ‘Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters...’ ; 1:22 – ‘Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves...’ ; 1:26 – ‘Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.’

James has written this letter to save people like us from spiritual death. In the very last verses [5:19-20] he writes:

‘My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.’

So, what is James’ diagnosis? At the heart of his letter is the heart of the problem – and it is, of course, the problem of the heart:

James 4:4. ‘You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred towards God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.’

That’s the bottom line.

It is the disease of spiritual adultery, a divided heart. In other parts of the letter James calls it double-mindedness.

As Christians we are betrothed to Christ and yet, so often, we’re treacherously disloyal.

We may say we love God but adore ourselves and the world far more.

We are two-timers.

Now, a good physician will run tests to diagnose an illness and that is what James does.

He looks around our lives, at the everyday things, the ignored, entrenched things and shows that it is these that reveal our divided heart. Then he applies the scalpel...

We’ve got a dangerous problem, but God has a wonderful solution.

So, for a time, I invite you to join me in ‘the end Word’ every other month, for some spiritual heart surgery as we allow the Holy Spirit via James to uncover some of our more insidious, respectable sins and to stop us fatally wandering from the truth.

Lizzy Smallwood is a pastor’s wife, mum, & part-time school teacher and Bible teacher at women’s events at home and abroad.