We would expect the Book of James to be written by the apostle James, the brother of John. That James was part of the inner circle of disciples (Peter, James and John) and would have been a most likely candidate for writing an epistle to the church.  But this James was the brother of Jesus, who did not even believe that Jesus was the Messiah until after his resurrection.

I find it interesting that he began the letter describing himself as “James, a servant (slave) of God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ja. 1:1). He didn’t “name drop” by mentioning he was also the “brother of Jesus.”  By this time in his life, he found his significance in being a servant of God and Jesus Christ. I think he would have been an interesting psychological study as he grew up with Jesus as his older brother and since he was unable to ever see Jesus as Messiah until he encountered the resurrected Lord.  In fact, it seems as if James had some contempt for his older brother as they grew up. 

John tells us, “But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers said to him, ‘You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.’ For even his own brothers did not believe in him” (Jn.7:1-5).  It seems as if his brothers were chiding him about his claims to be the Messiah and his interest in becoming a public figure through his preaching.  In another place, Jesus said, “Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor” (Matt.13:57). 

This scenario demonstrates how difficult it is at times for us to see people as they are Instead of who they were.  This is especially true in families. Parents tend to always see their children as children…even when they are grown and accomplished.  Very often, adult children slip back into the role of a child when they go home.  A friend of mine who has a Masters in Counseling was telling me how she went home one Christmas when she was about 40 years old and was on the house phone (land line) with a client one afternoon for an extended period.  Her father walked by and said, “Been on the phone long enough haven’t you.”  Like a dutiful teenager she said, “Yes sir,” and hung up. She had subconsciously slipped back into the familiar paradigm of parent and child. So had her father, by the way. 

The brothers of Jesus could only see him as their older brother…maybe the resented favorite. All of his teachings and even his miracles could not get them to see him as more than that.  When he was crucified they probably thought, “I knew if he didn’t get over his “God complex” something like this would happen.”  It took a resurrection for them to change paradigms.  It wasn’t just the brothers either.  There were times when his mother could not see him as more than her boy. Mark tells us, “Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind” (Mk. 3:20-21).

As you read through the gospels, many who had known his family could only see him as the son of Joseph and Mary.  We are told when he went back to Nazareth, he could do only a few miracles because of their unbelief. They could not believe because they had already defined who he was in their mind based on the past, regardless of what they were seeing in the present. 

Sometimes, it is difficult for us to lead our families and old friends to the Lord, especially if we were not living as a believer “back then.” They can only see us as we were, not as we are now.  We speak truth to them, but somehow our words lack credibility.  Take heart, Jesus faced the same predicament. It’s not about your wisdom or your authenticity as a believer, but about their inability to see people as they are, not as they were. The Holy Spirit will have to do some work there before they can hear you. 

On the other hand, we need to guard ourselves against defining people as they were, rather than as they are now…especially when they have begun to follow the Lord. Jesus is in the business of change.  He can change anyone.  And yet, when someone has failed us or betrayed us in the past, even when they have sincerely repented and begun to pursue Jesus, we may never recognize the change that has occurred.  I see this often when a spouse has committed adultery, done drugs, or hidden a pornography addiction for years. 

As a defense against being wounded again, we often refuse to see their efforts and their change as anything but manipulation.  Our response often discourages them in their pursuit of Jesus rather than encouraging the very thing we say we want for them.  Sure, there is some caution in trusting too soon, but there is, perhaps, greater risk in never trusting. 

God often does amazing things through those who were once hurtful and untrustworthy. He changed Jacob, the deceiver, into Israel.  He changed Saul of Tarsus, who had fueled the persecution in Acts 8, into the apostle Paul.  Only Barnabas was willing to believe that Saul had been transformed by an encounter with Jesus.  If Barnabas had not been able to see this man with different eyes and convince others of the change, we may have been missing most of the New Testament.

Sometimes, the person we cannot see with fresh eyes is ourself.  We keep defining ourselves by past failures and mistakes and filter out the changes God is actually making in us.  Then we become a discouragement to ourselves and often turn even down the encouragement others give us.

think the lesson here is to ask the Holy Spirit, very consistently, to enable us to see others and ourselves in the present, not in the past. Sometimes we need to ask for the faith to believe God changes us and others as well. Sometimes, we need to give God a chance to bless us through these transformed people by seeing them as the person God is transforming or promoting.  They may have a gift, a word, or a message that God will use to change us as he changed them. 

As we race toward election day, both parties are touting their brand of economic theories.  Trump keeps pointing back to lower taxes, deregulation, and tariffs on China. Kamala sings the praises of Bidenomics which seems to be tax, spend and print.  

The truth is that neither will work long-term without the blessings of heaven on this nation.  In Deuteronomy 28, God declares that the nation that forsakes him will experience devastating curses: economic disaster, famine, runaway inflation, war on their borders, madness, and pandemics.  No nation can endure those things and thrive economically.

On the other hand, God promises the nation that honors him and keeps his commands will experience  unprecedented peace on its borders, health across the board…people, livestock and crops and there will be a marked absence of natural disasters.  In other words, the economic climate and the nation will thrive. 

The economics we are looking for come from heaven and are a biproduct of honoring God and keeping his commands. I believe additional CO2 in the atmosphere is not the driving force behind natural disasters.  It is sin in the hearts of men.  The earth was initially cursed because of sin. Previous to sin, the earth cooperated with man and man had God-given dominion over this planet.  But sin reversed the divine order of things.  

In addition, when Cain killed Abel, God said Abel’s blood cried out to him from the ground.  It was if the earth responded to the violence of men and the outcome echoed the garden curse.  God declared to Cain, “Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops to you” (Gen. 4:10-11).

As you read Deuteronomy 28, it is clear that the hearts and actions of men either release blessings on a person or a nation or release curses.  The economics of heaven declare that the key to a thriving nation is righteousness, not political policies.  I’m not saying those policies don’t matter at all, but I am saying that even the soundest economic policies cannot overcome the damaging effects of sin. 

The encouraging side of the coin is that God will provide for his sheep even in tough economic times.  In the famous story of Jesus feeding the five thousand, the difference in earthly economics and heavenly economics is made abundantly clear.  At the end of a long day of preaching to large crowds, Jesus instructed his disciples to feed the people.  They quickly took an inventory of their resources (five loaves and two fish) and did the math.  Remember, Matthew was an accountant and several others had run their own fishing businesses.  The conclusion was “No Way Jose Economics.”  The disciples were confronted with the limitations of the natural realm. They didn’t have the food nor the money to buy the food so for them, it was game over. 

Jesus, however, was plugged into heavenly economics and knew there were no food shortages or supply chain problems in heaven. He prayed for the Father to multiply what they had and gave thanks for the abundance that was available to them.  In a while, everyone sitting on the hill had enough to eat with twelve basketfuls left over…a basket for each apostle to contemplate.  We need to contemplate those extra baskets as well.

Now…I am not saying we have no need to vote.  We have a stewardship of this nation to exercise at the ballot box.  Vote for righteousness.  Vote for the better economic policies. But remember, our hope is in heaven, not in Washington D.C. A national righteousness is the solution, not convoluted economic programs. And if we can’t vote out the wicked or the incompetent, we must pray them out. 

Much is being said and written currently about the “end times” when Jesus will return and history as we know it will grind to afinal and sudden stop. In Matthew 24, his disciples asked Jesus what the signs would be when the “end” would come that he had foretold along with the destruction of the Temple. Jesus responded by saying that the day or hour of his coming was known only to the Father…not even the angels know. However, he said we should be able discern the season and know when these things are at hand. He warns us to be alert and not caught off guard at his coming,

Several decades ago I determined not to spend too much time sorting out the end times. If we live everyday as if Jesus is coming back we will be in a good place at his return. I decided that because it was a season when many people (prophets, preachers and authors) were trying to determine the day and the time of his return, even though Jesus said it couldn’t be known. Each prediction was spread across headlines and each time the prediction failed to materialize, it seemed the church lost more credibility with the unchurched. On top of that, I was watching people I knew pour all their energy into “discerning the headlines,” rather than serving God or sharing the gospel. It appeared to be a great distraction.

However, in the past few years I have reconsidered. I have begun spending a little more time thinking about the season of his return as I see clear prophetic lines being crossed. I certainly believe we are in the season. I think three major prophetic markers point to the return of Jesus.

The first occurred in 1948 when Israel became a nation again and then in 1967 when Jerusalem was returned to control of Israel. When Jesus returns he will not place his foot down on the White House lawn, but in Israel and, specifically, in Jerusalem. That prophetic line has been crossed. If you are not aware, the Jews had no homeland for 2000 years. They were scattered all over the world which was God’s pronounced judgment if Israel would not turn their hearts back to him and if they rejected Messiah. In 70 A.D., Rome destroyed the Temple and banished Jews from Jerusalem. However, the prophets also foretold, over and over, that, in the end times, God would gather the Jews once again in Israel As I mentioned, that historically unlikely event took place in 1948.

A second major prophetic line is found in 2 Thessalonians. Here Paul declares, “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 These. 2:3-4, emphasis added).

The word translated rebellion in this text is apostasia which can be translated apostasy or the “falling away.” Most scholars believe this is a “falling away” that occurs in the church. This word can also mean abandonment or rebellion. In the past few decades we have seen that occur in the western church. Many have abandoned the faith but more destructive are those who have continued to declare that they are true followers of Christ while compromising with the world and bending scripture to embrace their own standards rather than God’s.

Where the Bible clearly declares that practicing homosexuality is an abomination to the Lord, a number of main line denominations have embraced it as an acceptable lifestyle even among church leaders. Other churches no longer defend the inerrancy of scripture and others no longer maintain that Jesus is the only way to heaven. Other “churches” celebrate abortion for any cause and seemingly few churches clearly speak out against sin anymore. There is a clear movement, even among “Christians” to form a new world or universal religion that takes the “best of all religions” and combines their tenets into one faith. Clearly, there is a great apostasy or “falling away” occurring now

The third prophetic line is also mentioned in Paul’s comments above. The “man of lawlessness” (the anti-Christ) will set himself up in God’e temple, proclaiming himself to be God. There may be two ways to understand this. If the church is the “temple” Paul is referring to, then some individual man ascend to prominence and have influence over the church…perhaps, in a universal religion scenario. More likely, however, the temple here is the temple in Jerusalem.

Of course, there is no temple in Jerusalem at this moment. The last temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 a.d. But fear not, the orthodox Jews are on the brink of building a third temple in Jerusalem. They have everything they need to do just that. This will be the third prophetic line that will announce that Jesus will be coming soon. Just so you don’t get too comfortable, that Temple can be built in months rather than years.

All of this is to say that we are definitely in the season of his return if not absolutely on the brink. This should motivate us to do several things:

First of all, let’s examine our faith to see if we have given into cultural pressure and deception and watered down the word of God in our own lives. God is unchanging and his word is unchanging. Cultural “evolution” nor agenda driven “science” does not change his standards of righteousness or judgment.

Secondly, we must evaluate our love for God. How seriously do we take obedience in our own lives. Jesus said, “If you love me you will keep my commands.” How many commands do we “exempt” ourselves from because they don’t conform to our preferences? Who have we not forgiven? Who do we continue to judge? How compromised are our relationships? What addictions do we rationalize and what “idols” are we devoted to more than Jesus?

Thirdly, if there is someone you need to share the gospel with or whose salvation you need to be praying for…I wouldn’t delay. C.S.Lewis put it this way. “When the author steps onto the stage, the play is over.” In other words, when Jesus returns, the opportunity to say “yes” to him will have passed.

We are in a crazy world where everything seems out of control. Unwelcome changes seem to happen at light speed. But we, like the sons of Issachar should understand the times and press into our Savior more than ever. Jesus says there will be great deception in the last days so that even the elect might be led astray. Get into the Word. Stay connected to a Bible believing church. Stay connected to a group of serious believers who will pray for one another and look out for one another in these last days. We certainly want to be ready for his return and be unashamed at his coming.