Sucking Blessings Through a Straw
#13 in the Book of James Series
By Pastor Jim May
James has just completed dealing with the power of the tongue to destroy and to bless. Now we will see why the tongue is often put to such terrible use when it is used to destroy a life or a reputation. Most of the time it is because a root of bitterness, envy and strife have entered into a relationship. When we are hurt, our first and immediate reactions are to defend ourselves and then to strike back.
This kind of action doesn’t heal the situation though. It only serves to fan the flames of passion and the root of bitterness grows ever deeper.
Have you ever been hurt, deeply hurt, by anyone? Has the pain that you felt never completely healed?
Is it difficult for you to forgive? To let the past be the past? It is for a lot of people.
1) Perhaps you’re like the elderly woman who lived to see her beloved Richmond, Virginia occupied by Union troops after the Civil War. She was walking down a Richmond street when she tripped over a step and fell. A Union soldier stopped and gently helped her up.
She did notice the soldier’s kindness, but the bitterness in her heart wouldn’t allow her to fully thank him. Instead she said very coolly, “How very kind of you, young man, If there is a cool spot in hell, I hope you get it.”
2) There’s an African tribe that has figured out what real forgiveness is all about.
When a tribe member acts irresponsibly or unjustly, the offender is taken to the center of the village. All work ceases and every man, woman and child in the village gathers in a large circle around the accused. Then the tribe bombards the rejected person with praise!
One at a time, friends and family enumerate all the good the individual has done. Every incident, every experience that can be recalled with some detail and accuracy is recounted. All their positive attributes, strengths and kindnesses are recited carefully and at length. Finally, the tribal circle is broken, a joyous celebration takes place, and the outcast is welcomed back into the tribe.
What a beautiful ritual of restoration! They replace hurt with happiness; pain with peace. Once again they are family. The rejected one is restored and the village is made whole. (Is that the way it is on your job; or in your home?)
James 3:14, "But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth."
Now bitterness isn’t always expressed by words. The tongue can be the instrument of hurt but sometimes we manage to hold our tongue, but then we turn loose the daggers in our eyes, and we have definitely learned to turn an icy cold shoulder.
Sometimes bitterness is the product of envy because someone has something that we don’t have. Maybe they have a Hummer and you’re driving a two door Yugo, or if it has four doors it’s a Wego. Maybe they can sing like an angel but your voice sounds like a frog with a frog in its throat. Maybe they have a real talent for art while your stick people don’t even look like good sticks much less people. Maybe they can play a musical instrument extremely well but you can’t even play a kazoo. There are many sources of envy in life and any one of them can be a source of strife. If envy is in your heart, it will come out and it usually comes out through the mouth and makes the tongue really wag a lot when you are around other people.
There’s a lot of people who actually take glory in being bitter. I’ve heard a few people say, “Man it feels good to give someone else a piece of my mind”. They don’t realize that the bitter spirit within them is like a cancer, eating away at their very lives. It’s a deadly cancer that destroys the body, kills the soul and condemns us to the flames of hell forever. We cannot harbor bitterness and envy and make Heaven our home.
Some people glory in having strife in their hearts. They consider themselves to be called by God to be your critic. God made them perfect so that they can be the judge of everyone else.
They forget what Jesus said in Matthew 7:1-3, "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"
The truth of God’s Word says that bitterness, envy and strife are ungodly traits so don’t let yourself convince yourself that you are right in having them.
A man that if full of bitterness, envy and strife, that cannot hold his tongue, often believes that he is wiser than anyone else, but that can’t be so.
James 3:15, "This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish."
Have you ever flown on one of a small airplane? I have and let me tell you, they’re not always much fun. If you’re in one of those and you hit turbulence, it will do wonders for your prayer life.
A story is told about four people who were the only people on board one of those small planes. There was the pilot, a pastor, a Boy Scout, and another man who claimed to be the smartest man in the world. All of a sudden, the pilot came back to the cabin and informed everybody that the plane was going down. Then he let them know that there were only three parachutes on board. He said, “I’ve got a wife and three kids at home.” So he grabbed a parachute and jumped out. The rest of them looked at each other until the genius stood up and grabbed one. He said, “I’m the smartest man in the world. Everybody needs my awesome brain power.” Then before they could say anything, he jumped out.
Then the pastor smiled at the boy and said, “Son, you’re young and I’m older and I’m prepared to meet the Lord. You take the last parachute and I’ll go down with the plane.” The Boy Scout just laughed and said, “Chill out, preacher. The smartest man in the world just jumped out of the plane with my backpack on. I hope enjoys lunch on the way down.”
Even the wisest man in the world, in his own conceit, is no match for the true wisdom that God gives to his own people. The power of the Holy Ghost to enlighten your understanding is more than we can imagine. That’s why James also says in James 1:5, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God…and it shall be given him."
James 3:16, "For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work."
Where do we find envying and strife going on? Everywhere – there is no place where you are safe from it’s effects upon your life, so just be prepared for it to appear.
There’s envying and strife in the world as a whole as nations are rising against nations, and this just isn’t talking about the USA and Iraq or Iran. It’s talking more about the nation of Islam rising against the nation of Christianity. There’s strife in the church too, and the church is a house divided that cannot stand. There’s envy and strife in many of our marriages, again causing division and divorce to be widespread.
Wherever envy and strife is found, confusion reigns because why; because we can’t control our tongue and fan the flames with evil intentions.
James 3:17, "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy."
Do you live your life with certainty or with confusion? Are you sure of what is right and what is wrong? Are there any absolutes in your life? Instead of black and white, does everything seem gray and is the line of distinction blurred?
You may feel like the Peanuts cartoon in which Lucy says to Charlie Brown, "I hate everything. I hate everybody. I hate the whole wide world!" Charlie says, "But I thought you had inner peace." Lucy replies, "I do have inner peace. But I’m still obnoxious on the outside."
God’s wisdom will settle your mind and give your heart peace. If envy and strife follow on your heels like a bloodhound, maybe its time to let go of bitterness and let God’s peace begin to rule in you.
When you think like God thinks and you understand what the Holy Ghost is revealing to you, then your life will reflect the very character of God and life will be greater than It’s ever been.
James 3:18, "And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace."
Those who are filled with bitterness, envy and strife are trying to receive from God but something is choking off the supply line and destroying the line of communication. We cannot have these things operating in our lives and claim to be Christians for they are the product of hell and light and darkness cannot mix.
The evil in that heart keeps God’s best from getting through to us. Like lemon juice that causes your lips to pucker, a sour spirit draws your heart and closes your mind. It’s like trying to drink in the blessings of God through a bent straw. Nothing much can get through.
Let’s open that channel wide and allow the Holy Ghost to move in us. Learn to forgive and forget. Don’t allow bitterness to dwell in you.
If you make peace with God and man, then your life will be one of complete peace and everywhere you go you will be the instrument of peace for other people too.
In the Bible we are told the story of how God came to Solomon and told him that he would give him anything he desired. He could have riches, power, prestige, or anything he wanted. Solomon’s request was the he be given wisdom to rule over God’s people.
Solomon at the height of his spiritual power wrote in Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Later on when Solomon began to allow his spiritual convictions to crumble and to compromise with the ways of the world, his wisdom wasn’t so profound anymore.
Nearing the end of this days, Solomon ceased to fear God and began to simply depended on his own human wisdom. He was no longer the world’s wisest man, he became the world’s most knowledgeable fool.
Are you trying to drink in God’s blessing through a straw, allowing envy, strife and bitterness to stay in your heart and choke your ability to receive the things of the Spirit? Use the wisdom that God gives and let it go, root it out, lest it destroys you in the end.
