James 3:13-16

NIV: Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbour bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

The Message: Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here's what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It's the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn't wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn't wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn't wisdom. It's the furthest thing from wisdom—it's animal cunning, devilish conniving. Whenever you're trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others' throats.

Yet again this is a case of walking the walk, not just talking the talk. Our lives, the way we live them, the things we do and say, are the evidence of what is really in our hearts, whether what we are is from God or the devil. Who is going to believe we are Christians if we behave exactly the same as those who do not believe? What is it that distinguishes us from other people? If we go around gossiping, being proud, with making money, getting that promotion, having the biggest car or house, the most well dressed children and so on, then surely we are making the things of this world our god? Putting other things, other people in God's rightful place?

It is so easy to behave like everyone else. After all, we all want to fit in, to be liked, admired, looked up to. But sometimes, it is necessary to take a stand, to come out and say that something is wrong, to refuse to take part in gossip and criticism, to look on the bright side, think the best of people not the worst all the time.

I once worked in a small office with about 30 people. The building was a converted house with all the rooms converted to offices or meeting rooms. I ended up spending a lot of time in the office preparing accounts for clients form books and records they brought in, and got to know the admin staff well. However, the one thing I absolutely hated about that office, was that whenever you walked into reception, they would be talking about someone in the office, their morals, what they had been doing, what they were wearing and so on. I just knew that as soon as I had walked out of the room, they would be discussing me too. Not pleasant.

The thing with gossip, is that you never know the facts, the whole story, the reasons why someone did whatever it was, or is dressed that way or whatever. Anything you say could be based on misinterpretation, lack of knowledge about the whole situation, jealousy, anger and so on. It is far better not to indulge in gossip in he first place. Mind you, that is often easier said than done, especially when you are only doing it "out of love".

But getting back to Kames and what he has to say here, it is clear that what we say and do are the evidence of our hearts. It is not just a case of saying or thinking the right things, we actually have to live our lives that way too. Look at Tiger Woods and how he always appeared to be squeaky clean, yet his life was a lie. What about those preachers who preach such faith filled, rousing sermons, and yet they are living lives completely at odds with the way they preach? It is difficult to love a lie, and sooner or later, we will trip up and give ourselves away.

We need to get our hearts right with God and everything else will flow from that. When God is at the centre of our lives, we will be focused on him, not on the things of this world, the money making, fame seeking, self centred ambitions of most people. If we lived our lives as if God was right by our side all the time (which He is), and if we appreciated the fact that He knew all our inmost thoughts and secrets, even the ones we never even think about ourselves (which He does), and if we took care to only say, think or do those things that were pleasing to God, just think what a better place the world would be. There would be no gossip, no back stabbing, no setting ourselves up to be better than others. We would be looking out for one another, helping each other, living the life Jesus would have us live and putting God first in everything.

With the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can do this, we just have to ask. After all, doesn't Paul tell us that the Holy Spirit lives within us, and that we are no longer controlled by sin?

Romans 8:9-11 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. (NLT)

So we need to learn to listen to that inner voice, the Holy Spirit, to seek His guidance, and to stop letting the things of this world influence our behaviour, our morals, our language. After all, the prince of this world is the devil, and do we really want him to have control over us, to lead us, guide us? We need to start letting the Holy Spirit really have control, not just on Sunday mornings when we listen to a good sermon and vow to change our ways. We can't pick and choose - one day allowing the Holy Spirit free reign and the next day giving in to every temptation we come across. Yes, there will be times when we give in to temptation, after all, we all mess up at times. But I am talking here about a deliberate disregard for the Holy Spirit, deliberately and wilfully choosing to ignore those inner promptings even though you know where they are coming from. The times when you, we, I choose to do something that we know beyond any shadow of a doubt is wrong, and yet we still go ahead and do it.

The evidence of our Christian faith will be seen in the things we do and say. We are all by nature sinful but the Holy Spirit changes us from within to become more like Christ. We just have to stop and listen to His voice within us. And that is a case of having the wisdom to allow the Holy Spirit free reign in our lives.