James
Chapter 4: 6-17
6But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God
opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
7Submit
yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands,
you sinners, and purify your hearts, you doubleminded. 9Grieve,
mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
11Brothers,
do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks
against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting
in judgment on it. 12There is only one Lawgiver and Judge,
the one who is able to save and destroy. But you–who are you to judge your neighbor?
Boasting About Tomorrow
13Now
listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year
there, carry on business and make money.” 14Why, you do
not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears
for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to
say, “If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.” 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do
it, sins.
