James 1:19-27
The Urgency of Meekness

You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act--they will be blessed in their doing. If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

New Revised Standard Version

If we were to be foolish enough to describe the letter of James in one word, that word would be "works". But by focusing only on James' emphasis on works, we tend to conjure an image of a "Super-Christian", single-handedly rescuing Sunday School lessons, organizing mission trips, preparing meals for homeless shelters, and making frequent visits to hospitals. James would not have objected to any of these activities, but he would have objected to the focus. He was writing to encourage an inner change that naturally expressed itself in selfless action, so much so that James taught that what we do and how we do it is a clear indicator of our spiritual development. James would never have applauded Christian "heroics", because his letter calls us to meekness and humility, not to accolades and "stardom".

In this passage, James explains what he meant by meekness in several ways. The first is to curb our temper, because the events that will trigger our anger often come out of our pride. We get angry if another driver gets in our way, or we get angry if a cashier treats us rudely, or we get angry if someone doesn't like a presentation we developed. From these examples, and hundreds of similar daily events, I can see that my anger often comes when I have a higher assessment of my worth than do those who are fortunate enough to be around me. (But I am sure I'm the only person with that problem, right?)

Toward the end of this selection, James came back to this point of meekness in how he described true religion: to care for widows and orphans and to guard against being stained by the world. In the middle eastern world of James' day, widows and orphans were economically and socially worthless. In the present day United States, the closest equivalent might be homeless people, but the situation today isn't quite as severe. Most people today are embarrassed by the plight of homeless people, and society honors those who care for homeless people. In James' society, women and children were considered just a step above possessions, so widows and orphans were discarded remnants from a man who had died. Even though the Old Testament required the people of God to care for those in their desperate circumstances, it was easier for a man to blame others for not caring for their own widows than it was to spend his own money, to take responsibility for a widow, and possibly to generate ugly rumors of what might have motivated him to take that homeless woman who was not his relative into his household.

The warning to avoid being stained by the world challenges us never to become overconfident of our resistance to temptation. I want to grow spiritually, and as I grow, I want to think I have overcome those sinful habits that once were part of my life. To put it another way, nothing discourages me more than falling for the same temptations that I thought I had put behind me. Often, it is just those same sins that I despise in myself the most that I succumb to again. When I think I am strong, I find I am weak and I cannot avoid the snares. When I admit that I am weak, I find God's strength to guide me around the snares and remind me of what is best for me.

This is the point James was making about mirrors. Forget for a moment that you see reflections and pictures of yourself dozens of times each day, and imagine a world where even crude mirrors were an exotic luxury. In the first century, there were few ways that most people would be able to see their reflected image, and it often was a shock when they saw themselves. (Some of us are old enough to remember the first time we heard a recording of our own voices, and we couldn't believe we sounded like that!) James drew on that kind of experience in the middle of this selection, and encouraged us not to ignore the revelation of who we actually are, but to cling tightly to that accurate knowledge so that God can work in us. Our delusions of ourselves are so much more comfortable, but we are called to the meekness and humility of accepting ourselves as God sees us, rather than as we want to see ourselves.

Other parts of this selection call us to be doers and not merely hearers of the word, and to bridle our tongues. These verses leap from the page because we have heard them frequently and because they are true. Keep in mind that we cannot "do" the word and we cannot control our tongues on our own strength. Without the humility that looks to God rather than to ourselves for truth, for conviction, and for strength, our religion is worthless.