Morningside Devotionals

What did James know that will help us There should be no doubt in a modern Christians belief and faith, and note, belief is held here separate from faith, you can believe in Christ, that's a mental event, yet have no faith, which is an exercise of all you are, based upon that belief.  Today's human is approximately 30% smarter overall than they were a century ago.  The average intelligence quotient is approximately 120 some slightly higher some slightly lower, but a century ago 100 was a good average.  Nearly all read, a century ago, very few did.  Nearly all know how to use some form of technology, a century ago that technology did not exist- in fact, for the most part wasn't even dreampt of yet.  What is about to happen, however, to Homo Sapiens, which is what we are, classification wise, whether you believe we are created or not, I happen to believe we are created, but I also believe it is totally possible to understand we are created and hold on to true ...

What did James know that will help us Once upon a time there was a Christian who felt that what was needed in the church was more members, felt it so acutely that this Christian decided they needed to go out and invite others to come to church.  It was at that point that this Christian began to hear about the church, things that were unbelievable, and, that this Christian had never known about.  That the church was ugly in the way it treated it's people, well, that certainly hadn't been this Christian's experience.  That the church was money hungry just wanting it's people's money, which this Christian found hard to believe since rarely did they go above a tithe?  They heard the church was prejudiced and only liked certain folks to attend and so they couldn't.  The Christian thought this was odd, because they'd been accepted, long hair and all, back in the day?  So finally they couldn't take the perplexing difference between what they had felt and e...

What did James know that will help us My appreciation for folks who want me to do better has grown over the years.  When someone used to tell me that my writing was "Too deep," my ego would take that as a compliment, not realizing, I'd wasted God's gift to us in the form of time.  So that led to my suffering a dire lack of God's gift to us in the form of money.  That led to a suffering from God's people over a lack of resources.  God's time, God's money, God's resources, see we don't have any of those my friend, they are given to us, and the closer you walk with Jesus the more you realize, He's a gentleman we aren't.  Do we need help, well it would appear so... 14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?  15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.  16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but do...

What did James know that will help us My friend has suffered much in his life, oh he has had his fair share of blessings, don't misunderstand me, and he's no sad sack- in fact often he has chosen to be uplifting to those who are down.  But now he's facing something that he doesn't know how to deal with- he would love to commit revenge- and few of us would be interested in him being arrested for it.  We believe that the person who committed the injustice against him is a worthless character who has rejected all the good intentions of those who have tried to get him to see the truth about himself.  And my friend could, he could take revenge, he is a hunter, he has high powered rifles, he could take a shot from two blocks away and nobody would know who or how- so, he's in a bit of a quandary.  So are we, we have high powered rifles, we know who the sleaze bag is, but we're also in a bit of a quandary.  Into the scene steps a man who's brother brought thing...

What did James know that will help us There are substantial debates going on in the world - and in fact heated fights, beyond even arguments, over the fact of bias, over prejudice, over someone feeling they have been mistreated.  So isn't it appropriate, and outrageously so, that these thousands of years ago the one who lived with the one who created it all, would write about it?   1 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the...

What did James know that will help us Ever been standing in a line, waiting to go into an event, suddenly there is a bustle in the crowd, a limousine pulls up, someone you don't necessarily recognize steps out, before they do, the bodyguards precede them, opening the door to the limo.  And they are escorted to the door and then go inside, while you're standing there?  That's not to hard to take, because you're going to get in, right? But if adjust the circumstances just a bit, from an event, to something perhaps, slightly more important, say, an organ; and suddenly the idea or concept of deference to the wealthy, takes on a whole 'nother level of sting, don't it.  Now imagine that you're the wealthy person.  Flip the mirror a bit and you begin to see that something is askance, and it may not be you. Let's spend only a moment or two on the subject of making a Greek text from a couple thousand years ago mean what it meant, and should mean and like...

What did James know that will help us?      If there is any doubt left in anybodies mind about the times being different today than they were just ten short years ago, take an honest look at the LGBTQ movement that didn't exist then.  This entire block of protest oriented movement has come into it's own with the last five years, it might have had an undercurrent existence, but it wasn't mainstream in it's wide proclamation until the last five years.  And it represents a minority shift in values being projected onto the majority and that's new as well.  What do I mean by that, a minority, not many people register as a member of this sex declaring sect, they don't have big numbers of members, but they sound like they do, and they make anyone who takes any sort of opposing stand seem out of touch with modern thinking to put it kindly.  What does this have to do with the writings of a disciple and church leader thousands of years ago?  They had s...

What did James know that will help us?     You and I, we, are in the midst of the most massive delusion making reality shifting technologies ever in the history of man.  Let's try to think of it this way, Bill Gates, a name you recognize as one of the worlds wealthiest men, founder of Microsoft one of the worlds largest and most prestigious computer companies; put it in these terms, "Not since the Gutenberg printing press has a revolutionary upgrade in technology had such a powerful effect as the computer."  [Business at the Speed of Thought] Gates wrote that theorem in his landmark work two decades back!      In those days we discussed the potential to do quantum computing, today, it happens.  In those days we discussed virtual reality, today we have online virtual communities where people choose their identity and interact.  While it is still less than totally real, it's only about two years away until the average person will be able ...

What did James know that will help us? What do you believe is going to happen to you next- not this thing that has happened to you, maybe you've been told your health is shot, maybe you've been told your bills are too high and your ability to pay is diminished, maybe your best friend has turned on you and said unbelievably cruel things in a very public place like Facebook-  there are literally hosts of things that can happen that are bad.  Label that the present bad, and think of it that way, this is now, this is bad, but what do you believe is going to happen to you next?  It appears from the text in James herein displayed as the Berean Bible Interlinear- so the Greek is placed therein, with the English not an easy thing to accomplish but the Berean's are a very faithful group of translators that seem to be very sincere in keeping the translation as clean and true to the writing as possible. Above the Berean Interlinear is an New International Version (NIV) translati...