The "Perfect" Believer

How wonderful it is to know that Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters (Hebrews 2:11-12, Mark 3:34-35). And yet, is it equally wonderful to hear James, the once unbelieving brother of Jesus, call himself a "bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." This letter of James is written by a changed man– from unbelief to saving faith; sceptical brother to humble servant; from cynical hearer to faithful doer of the word. What has brought about this transformation? – "He gives more grace." Far from being an 'epistle of straw' (as Luther once described it), the Letter of James is filled with practical gospel substance. James expects the grace of God to bear fruit in the lives of those who have received it and so exhorts us to a living and active faith. As we sit under this word in the coming months, may we be "not hearers only, deceiving ourselves," but "doers of the word" of grace that we hear.