📜 James 1:19-20 | The Way of Righteousness

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Happy Wednesday, {{first_name | everyone}}!

Today, we’re breaking down the original Greek and looking at one of the best ways we can be countercultural in how we engage with the world around us.

In today’s email…

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Know ____, my ________ ________: let every ______ be ______ to ____, slow to _____, slow to ______;

for the anger of ___ does not _______ the ____________ of ___.

James 1:19-20

366 Reasons Not to Fear

Days before the secret police came for him, Pastor Richard Wurmbrand made a discovery all believers should know about:

The Bible holds 366 passages to help believers overcome fear - one for every day of the year, leap year included.

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Most of us will never face a prison cell for our faith, but fear and worry find us anyway. Whom Shall I Fear? gathers those same 366 passages into a daily devotional that walks you past anxiety and doubt by fixing your eyes on who God is.

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Today we’re slowing down on verse 20, which is the why behind verse 19.

Why be slow to anger? James tells us right here.

Because our anger does not produce what God is actually after.

Let’s look at two words in the Greek. The first is "produce."

The Greek is ergazomai (ur-gazah-meye), the everyday word for working a job or working a field. It's labor that yields a result: you put in the work, and you get a result.

Our anger can often feel productive in the moment. It can feel powerful, useful, and even justified. But the reality is that it’s far more likely to produce damage, not godliness.

Which brings us to the second Greek word, dikaiosynē (dih-ky-aw-SOO-nay).

In verse 20, James is teaching that sinful human anger does not produce the righteous conduct that God desires.

That’s the issue. Anger feels like action, but it does not move us toward the kind of life that pleases God or reflects His holiness.

Most of the time, our anger spawns from wounded pride, impatience, selfishness, or a desire to control.

And even when there is a real problem in front of us, sinful anger tends to make things worse, not better. It clouds our judgment, loosens our tongue and hardens our heart.

James is exposing a serious spiritual problem he sees in the church in Jerusalem, and it’s certainly relevant for us today as well.

Much of the internet and modern news is driven by anger. Social media algorithms are rewarded with more attention when the content they show people makes them angry.

We’ve invented terms like “rage-bait” to refer to content purposefully created to make a certain group of people angry.

Sinful anger is the way of the world that is running rampant right now.

And living out the call in James 1:19-20 is one of the ways that we as followers of Jesus can show a better way of life -- the way of righteousness — and point people to Christ.

Bring to mind the one person or problem your anger keeps circling back to this week. Be honest about what you've been wanting that anger to accomplish: to win, to protect your pride, to punish someone else, or to assert control.

Hand that exact situation to God in prayer today.

🙏 Pray

Father, you know the person I keep getting angry about. I have trusted my anger to fix it, and it never does. I want to trust you and your Holy Spirit instead. Produce in me the righteousness I cannot manufacture. Make me slow to anger, and quick to bring it to you. Amen.

Here are a few resources to help you dig deeper into our memory verse and its themes:

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Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

James 1:19-20