James: Faith/WorksSample

Worldliness / Godliness

Our lives suffers from no shortage of worldly wisdom. If you’ve ever been into a bookstore, you’ve seen the massive space dedicated to self-help or self-improvement. You may have even seen books classified as Christian self-help. But here’s the reality. You can’t help yourself. You’re broken. Apart from Christ, you’re spiritually dead. You can’t improve on death and brokenness. This is a bigger deal than not living up to your potential or settling for good instead of great. This is a matter of life or death. 

Worldliness and godliness are both the root and the fruit of the wisdom we live by. False wisdom is rooted in and reproduces more worldliness. True wisdom is rooted in and reproduces more godliness. 

Our passions and desires are at war within us, and we must fight against them. Pride, boasting, and divisiveness mark worldly people, while humility, obedience, and repentance mark godly people. 

When we get into an argument with someone, our tendency is often to blame
the person we’re arguing with before examining our own hearts.

The way we view the world causes us to grow in one of two ways: 

1. Gladness and gratitude

2. Entitlement and contempt

When we learn to spot God’s goodness in our lives, it leads to an ever-increasing sense of gladness and gratitude. As joy and satisfaction begin to grow in our lives, we learn to appreciate God’s work regardless of our circumstances. In contrast, if we feel that God owes us something, instead of growing in gladness and gratitude, we’ll grow in contempt. The only thing we deserve from God is death and eternal punishment, but by His grace, He has given us life.