NIV: Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
The Message: Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious.
This is all about getting serious with God, not messing around and treating life, and sin, as if it is all one big joke.
It’s easy to just carry on regardless, never really thinking about all the sin in the world, all the sin each of us commits every single day. After all, why worry about what may never happen when you can just enjoy the moment, carpe diem and all that? Life goes on and it is so very easy to never give God a thought, to get embroiled in the pleasures and cares of life, so wrapped up in our own lives that we never give a thought for others, let alone God.
So this is a reminder from James that we need to get serious about life, about sin. It means we should take notice of the things we do that are wrong, listen to that little voice inside that tells us when we are about to do something we shouldn't, or points out that we have just done something wrong.
It doesn't mean we spend the rest of our life on a guilt trip, watching each and every word we say, everything we do and continually beating ourselves up when we get it wrong. Because after all, we all know that it is not a case of if we mess up, but when we mess up. We are all going to sin sooner or later, despite our best intentions. Remember Paul telling us that even though he tries to do good, to not sin, he fails?
Romans 7: 21-24 It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question? (The Message)
I've been reading "Practising the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence recently. He was a monk from the 17th century who practised the presence of God. In other words, he spent his life in communion with God, like one continual conversation throughout each and every day with God. So He didn't just talk to God on Sunday mornings when he attended the service, or on odd occasions during the week when he remembered to pray. No, his whole life became such that he was always talking to God, no matter what he was doing - washing dishes, peeling potatoes, when doing the most mundane of tasks and when doing the most important of tasks. If ever he forgot about God, because ehe became so wrapped up in what he was doing, who he was taking to, when the busyness of life took over, he just asked God's forgiveness, thanked him, and moved on.
I reckon that's what we need to do, to get serious about God and live our lives as if He is beside us, walking with us, talking with us, each and every moment. Yes, I know God is with us always, but realistically, exactly how many of us act as if He is? We let the moment distract us, we let the busyness of life fill our hearts, minds and senses, and God gets pushed to one side, shoved out of the way whilst we try to cope with the troubles and worries of life, with work, with friends, family, with our needs and everyone else's needs.
God created us:
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (NIV)
Revelation 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created (KJV)
He created us in His image, designed to be pure and holy, because it was His pleasure. It pleased Him to do so. And why? What was the purpose? Look at what He did with Adam and Eve:
Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…(KJV)
Isn't that just amazing? God walked in the garden of Eden in the cool of the day and spend time with Adam and Eve. Ok, in this particular verse, Adam and Eve ended up hiding from God because they had disobeyed Him, but this was obviously not just a one off (the walking in the garden, that is!). Otherwise, there would be something here to let us know that this was an unusual occurrence,. Something that had not happened before. But no, it just says that God walked in the garden in the cool of the day. He wanted to spend time with Adam, with Eve, with man, just as He wants to spend time with each of us today.
Yet so many turn their back on God, refuse to listen to Him, or acknowledge His very existence. But we were created to be like God, to spend time with Him, fellowship with Him, spend eternity with Him. So what happens when we turn our backs on God? When we refuse to see the hand of God in all that is around us? When we deny His existence, believe that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is a myth, that the Holy Spirit is just fiction? When we choose to go our own way all the time, ignoring the inner voice that tells us not to sleep around, take drugs, steal, kill, lie, cheat and so on? When we behave as if the world is our oyster and everything is there for our own pleasure if only we just reach out and take it? When what we want is the aim of everything we do?
Then in that case, when we totally reject God, and refuse to receive His Son as our Lord and Saviour, then our names will not be found written in the Lamb's book of life. We will be doomed to spend eternity in the lake of burning fire:
Revelation 20:15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (NIV)
So yes, take heed to the words of James and start to get serious about God, because the consequences of not doing so are eternal and everlasting.
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