13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

James 4:13-17 ESV
https://my.bible.com/bible/59/JAS.4.13-17

What do you like about this passage?

The last verse “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”. This gives me the freedom to love people no matter where they might be. Their sin may be offensive to my view but if the Holy Spirit has not yet reviled to them as being wrong then who am I. I am not talking about someone that is sinning by hurting another or committing a crime, the act of it being a crime shows that there is a law letting them know it is wrong.

I have a friend that is new in the kingdom and serving God, they live with their girlfriend. For me I believe that is wrong and goes against my belief in God, so for me, it would be sin. Once a new revolution comes to him, through my or other relationships or better yet by the Holy Spirit. I can not say that his choices are a sin to him. Only because he does not know but once he knows then he is accountable. I can truly love him unconditionally because I don’t have to be God for him just to show him, God.

Because of a former area of sin in my life God has told me not to watch movies that have nudity. So I will review that movie listing of offensive actions and if there is nudity I will not even entertain watching it. I teach fencing and love shows about swordplay, but I will not watch the movie “300”. A good accountability partner in my life told me not to watch it, even though he watched it. God had not put his finger on that area of his life yet, he had other sins he was working on at the time.

What is difficult about this passage?

The same verse is also difficult, I have to make sure I don’t compromise the Word of God when seeing other people sin. I have the attendance to not confront an area and share God’s word with an individual. The same friend above I have had a relationship with him for a couple of years and have not talked with him about his choice of living with his girlfriend.

Many Christians have a tendency to condemn and tell people that area they are doing wrong. Quoting Ephesians 4:15 “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,”. Paul shared this passage in a letter to believers dealing with other believers. You can share sinful areas in someone else life only through a relationship. My mother was a bartender and she would say “You can not tell a drunk he is a drunk!”, but you can have an intervention with a friend or family member (relationship).

What does this passage tell me about God?

He wants to be in the center of our lives not to control us but to have a relationship with us. That any boast we have is about God and what He has done for us.

What does the passage tell us about People?

We have a tenancy to boast in our own strength and ignore God in our lives, causing any boasting to be self-focused.

What are you going to do with this passage / your personal revelation?

Continue to love people unconditionally and ask God if I am to confront an issue in someone’s life that I have a relationship with.