Spirituality Matters

JAMES 5 (been working through James on Fridays, posting here on chapter 5)
James returns his thoughts toward the unsaved wealthy. They have been living for this world, and this world has paid them according to that. Eventually, eternally, their work and results have zero value. They have mistreated and underpaid workers, and they will get what is coming to them, at God's hand, not ours!

Verse 6 actually speaks of literal killing in courts. The wealthy would both accuse and mete out sentence at once, with very little, if any resistance.
So we get a HUGE "Therefore" in verse 7, turning the epistle back toward believers. The call to them, and to us, is for self-restraint, longsuffering, my Bible uses the word "patient". Indeed, we are to be patient, strengthen our hearts (our spiritual lives), and endure. We are told to be stronger spiritually, it is not optional. Job is listed as an example, staying consistent with James' touching on the Old Testament as he has already done several times.
ABOVE ALL - BE HONEST (v. 12). How often do we ask a question and get the run-around? Simple questions, especially about faith and salvation, should be able to be answered likewise. The "yes be yes and no be no" refers to a basic, common decency-based honesty. Integrity and character like that can be hard to find.
Verses 13 and 14 see James answering believers who are in various places spiritually. Suffering? Then pray. Cheerful? Then sing praises. Sick (literally weak, feeble), see spiritual counseling of elders/pastors and have them pray for you. There is an application to this referring to physically sick people, to use prayer and medicine, and I would agree with that. But James is tying in spiritual weakness with this as well, and the goal is SPIRITUAL healing, not necessarily just physical healing. There is countless prayer, diligent prayer by true believers, going up daily for physically sick people who may never be healed physically. Since that is the case, then the healing James speaks of can;t be physical, or this passage would not be true. But spiritual healing is always available, and we could certainly use the help and prayer of others to be so strengthened.
Verse 16 is a strong call to make sure sin does not weaken believers. Confession of sin is crucial. True salvation begins with confession, and true clean Christian living must involve confession of sin. If I expect others to confidently share with me, then I must be ready and willing to reciprocate. Some people are very good at being "needed", that is, they want to help others, and yet will not accept help from others. Maybe they feel others are not able or qualified to help them, maybe it is a spiritual thing, I don't know hearts. Other people are very good at "needing", they won't really help anyone, but they will unload cares and concerns on others.
In short, when you take James, and the rest of Scripture, we are called to encourage others, who may not be "worthy" of it. We are called to receive encouragement, too. We are called to be strong spiritually, not weakened by sin. We are called to endure, accepting other's shortcomings, knowing we have our own. Most of all, in James we are called to live as if God was our first priority. If He is not, then make changes.

Holding Fast to the Name of our Creator!