James: Going Deeper and Wider

Have you ever been to the mouth of a cave? A real cave in the woods, not Disneyland or part of the rock carved out at the beach. There’s a strange tension. You want to explore … but there’s apprehension. What if there’s a bear in there? Or worse, a snake? If it’s a network of caves, what if you get lost? Caves invite and repel at the same time. 

Therein lies the adventure. Our relationship with God is similar. We are invited to go deep with God, to explore Him and what a life of following Him. The invitation is compelling, but there’s also so much we don’t know … and so we hesitate. But God is calling us deeper and wider. Deeper in the knowledge of Him – both in understanding and relationship – as well as wider in our application of how He wants us to live. They go together. For the next six Sundays we are walking through highlights from the Letter of James to see how God wants us to walk with Him through hardship, experience genuine faith, practice self-control, pray with faith, stick together, and more. 

Some of those may come easily to us. Others seem further out of reach than the furthest cavern in a labyrinth of caves. But as we go deeper with God, learning who this God who calls us is, we’ll see how it makes sense to bring light to those areas. This journey deeper and wider will be worth every step. Let’s explore!