“Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.” – Jeremiah 23:24

There are no secrets from God. Whatever we might believe we say, do, or think in private is fully known to God. Fully known…. In light of His presence and His knowledge our response shouldn’t be to try harder to hide from Him. Indeed, there’s only one appropriate way to respond to a holy God who sees and knows everything…

Be honest with Him. Admit what you’re doing to God, commit to change your ways, and ask God’s forgiveness and help to change. That’s called repentance. Since you can’t hide from God, you need to repent of what you’ve been trying to hide and embrace God’s amazing grace instead.

The amazing grace of God is that He will forgive you for whatever guilt or shame you’ve been trying to hide from Him. He won’t forgive you because you suddenly turn over a new leaf and become a super-good person. He won’t forgive you because you suddenly get very religious. He won’t forgive because of anything you could possibly do. He’ll forgive you because of what His Son Jesus already did for you on the cross.

Jesus entered our world, lived a sin-free life, and died as an atoning sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins. He was buried and He rose from the dead on the third day. Everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will be forgiven their sins and cleansed of their shame. That’s God’s grace, which is given through faith in Jesus Christ.

In light of God’s comprehensive knowledge of literally everything, don’t try to hide your “secrets” from the Lord. Instead, get radically honest with Him. Admit everything – to yourself and to the Lord. Then embrace His radical, amazing, life-transforming grace. There’s no other option that makes the slightest bit of sense since God fills heaven and earth!

“Be not quick in your spirit to become angry,
for anger lodges in the heart of fools.”
– Ecclesiastes 7:9

Anger is one of the more insidious indulgences among Christians today. Often we will rationalize letting our temper fly by emphasizing that we were right about whatever it is we were angry about. In excusing away anger, we miss the repeated and emphatic teaching of the Bible! In the hands of sinful humans, anger generally leads us into sin.

Even when we start out right on the issue, anger generally means we’ll wind up wrong in the end. Some will point out that Jesus got angry. This is true. But we aren’t Jesus. He never sinned. Unlike Jesus, we can seldom become angry without it ending in sin. As you grow in Christ, the Holy Spirit should be making you more peaceful, patient, gentle, and self-controlled. Your union with Christ should empower you to remain firm about the truth without becoming angry.

Take time to consider yourself honestly. Are you a person who makes peace or someone who tends to get angry easily? If the latter, take the commands of Scripture seriously! Pray for God to transform your spirit so that you won’t be quick to become angry. When you find that you have become angry, repent of that. Call a time out on yourself and go to the Lord in sincere confession and repentance.

Devote yourself to prayer and the study of God’s Word so that you can take on God’s eternal perspective in every situation and fully trust in Him. This helps you to address even the most serious of issues with firmness but without anger.

“So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!” – James 3:5

The words that fly out of our months have great and terrible power! With them we can praise or destroy. We can build up or tear down. We desperately want to release our tongues to do any old thing, but for Christians, that simply isn’t an option.

We’re made new in Christ and that requires new habits, patterns, and words for our tongues. Scripture forbids us letting our tongues go wild, because God knows just how vile and wicked our tongues can truly become. Followers of Jesus should not be using their tongues to gossip, spread lies about other believers, or profane the name of Jesus.

With a few careless (or intentional) words of hurt and offense, we can spark a massive internal fire within our relationships, families, and churches. That fire can quickly grow out of control and consume the many resources of God – particularly His people! Lies, gossip, and harsh words can literally suck the life out of many who love the Lord. So, be careful what you say and how you say it. Don’t let your tongue be caught by God spreading wildfire!

“So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” – James 2:17

We aren’t saved by our good works and James isn’t saying we are. No amount of good works could ever be enough to reconcile an imperfect sinner with a perfect, sinless God. Only faith in Jesus Christ can save us as a gift of God’s grace.

However, such faith never travels alone! True saving faith will always be followed by a passionate desire to do the good works of God described throughout Scripture. If your faith is sufficient to reconcile you to God then it will be accompanied by a lifelong pattern of good works.

Take a few minutes to review your life. Is there a pattern of good works in your life? Are you excited about expressing your love for God and neighbor? If not, then you may not yet truly know Christ! If this describes you, stop to pray. Yield your life to Jesus as your King and Lord. Confess your sins to Him and turn from them for good. Believe in Him as resurrected from the dead for your good and His glory. Don’t go through life with a dead faith. Nurse your faith to new life in Jesus Christ, then watch it surround itself with good works.

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” – James 1:22

God’s Word, the Bible, is truth that demands action. Always. At all times, God expects a response of faithful obedience to what He’s written us. It isn’t enough for us to like the Bible. It isn’t enough to know a lot about the Bible. It isn’t enough to attend many Bible studies. It isn’t enough to memorize large portions of the Bible. We must also act on what the Bible says.

The commands of Christ are meant to be obeyed, not merely admired. What if we’re merely collectors of Bible studies instead? What if we hear and study the Bible without actually doing what it says? James is clear – we deceive ourselves…

What do we deceive ourselves about? Our salvation. If we aren’t acting on the commands of Jesus then He isn’t actually our Lord and if He isn’t our Lord we probably aren’t actually saved from our sins. We also deceive ourselves about holiness. It isn’t enough to study holiness – God commands His people to be holy because He’s holy. We deceive ourselves about ourselves. We imagine we’re particularly righteous when we aren’t. We convince ourselves we’re following Jesus when we’re really just sitting on our spiritual sofa watching Him on Netflix.

Don’t just hear what God said in the Bible. Do what He said!