Haikus and Humble Hermeneutics: James, Chapter 3

I have been barraged today, I tell you, barraged.  So guess what?  You're about to be as well. :) 

With all this thinking about the message of James, I realize how quickly I could misunderstand its application before reading it as much as after.  In the introduction of James chapter 1, I was thinking of Matthew 25:45, "Then He will answer them, 'I assure you: Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me either.'"  Today I have been barraged with a different nuance of Jesus' instructions, in Matthew 10:42: "And whoever gives just a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple--I assure you: He will never lose his reward!"  As I was contemplating that two-sided coin, three songs stood out to me on the radio this morning while driving between the kids' school and patients' homes: "Do Everything" by Steven Curtis Chapman, "The Proof of Your Love" by For King and Country, and "Hold Us Together" by Matt Maher.  Here is a sampling: 

From "Do Everything": 
"Little stuff
Big stuff
In between stuff
God sees it all the same
While I may not know you 
I bet I know you
Wonder sometimes, does it matter at all?
Well let me remind you, it all matters just as long
As you do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you,
Cause he made you
To do
Every little thing that you do
To bring a smile to His face
Tell the story of grace
With every move that you make
And everything you do"

From "The Proof of Your Love":
"If I sing but don't have love 
I waste my breath with every song
I bring an empty voice, a hollow noise
If I speak with a silver tongue 
Convince a crowd but don't have love
I leave a bitter taste with every word I say

So let my life be the proof, 
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
If I give 
To a needy soul but don't have love then who is poor?
It seems all the poverty is found in me"

And from "Hold Us Together": 
"And love will hold us together
Make us a shelter to weather the storm
And I'll be my brother's keeper
So the whole world would know that we're not alone" 

All of these songs, specifically "The Proof of Your Love", brought 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 to mind, which speaks of both good theology and works as meaningless without overflowing love from Jesus: "If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing."  So what good is all this attempt at understanding and knowledge unless I have acts of love to show it to my brother? 

Then, I come home for a short break before picking up kids at school again, and read this from Day 12 of Chapter 4 from the book 7 by Jen Hatmaker:
     "He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Mic. 6:8)
     "Without the noise and static, I'm learning about that walk humbly part.  Frankly, justice and mercy are my first languages; I'm a doer.  Acting justly satisfies the deep part of me that so wants a happier, safer, kinder earth.  I feel productive with a task, a list, a project, a mission.  I like the word "act" in this verse.  (Gotta be honest, I've been trying to earn my salvation for some time.)

     "But God is teaching me walk humbly--daily, simply, quietly.  It's in the walking humbly that God trains me for acting justly and loving mercy.  Being aware of God's presence is a powerful catalyst for courage later.  Acting on the latter without the former is just charity, not worship.  Plenty of people enact justice without devotion to Jesus.  There is no salvation in that, no devotion.  That well of mercy will run dry without replenishment, without supernatural motivation.

     "If more of us took the 'walk humbly with your God' part seriously, we might become agents of justice and mercy without even meaning to."

I have had this book since Christmas, but it is no mistake that I read this page, on this day, while reading through James.  And while I honestly think I fall much more on the other end of the spectrum from Jen Hatmaker in her scenario, that last line stood out to me: "If more of us took the 'walk humbly with your God' part seriously, we might become agents of justice and mercy without even meaning to." 

So this is my hope: that in any haiku writing, and in any attempt to "walk humbly with your God" through meditating more on God's Word, I will actually see more of my God.  Then His nature, character, and love will be found more and more characteristic of my life, so that I will become a doer of His Word, and sometimes without even realizing it.  Let it be so, Lord, let it be. 

Verse 1

Brothers, not many
Of you should presume to be
Teachers in the church

1-2
We who teach will be
Judged more strictly, and we all
Make many mistakes

2
If anyone does
Not stumble in what he says,
He's a perfect man

2 (continued)
This perfect, mature
Man could control himself in
Every other way

3
We put bits into
The mouths of horses so they
Will submit to us

3 (continued)
Then we can guide their
Whole bodies and have control
Over all they do

4
And consider ships:
They are so large that it takes
Strong winds to drive them

4 (continued)
Yet they are guided
By small rudders wherever
The pilot desires

5
So too, the tongue is
A small part of the body,
But it boasts great things

5 (continued)
Consider how great
A forest is set on fire
By a little flame

6
And the tongue is a
Flame of fire, the very world
Of iniquity

6 (continued)
Placed among the parts
Of our bodies, it corrupts
The entire body

6 (continued)
It sets the course of
Life on fire, and is itself
Set on fire by hell

7
Every sea creature,
Reptile, bird, or animal
Has been tamed by man

8
But no man can tame
The tongue, a restless evil
And full of poison

9
With it we bless God
And then curse men, who have been
Made in God's likeness

10
From the same mouth come
Blessing and cursing, but it
Should not be like this

11
Does a spring send out
Sweet and bitter water from
The same opening?

12
A fig tree cannot
Produce olives, nor can a
Grapevine produce figs

12 (continued)
In the same way, a
Pool of salt water cannot
Produce fresh water

13
Who among you has
Wisdom and understanding?
Prove it by good works

13 (continued)
An honorable
Life is lived with the meekness
That comes from wisdom

14
But do not harbor
Bitter jealousy, selfish
Ambition, and strife

14 (continued)
In your hearts you are
Arrogant, in your boasting
You slander the truth

15
Such wisdom does no
Come down from above; it is
Earthly, demonic

16
For where envy and
Strife exist, there's chaos and
Every evil thing

17
But the wisdom that
Comes from above is first of
All pure, peaceable,

17 (continued)
Gentle, submissive,
Full of mercy and good fruits,
Impartial, sincere

18
And a harvest of
Righteousness is sown in peace
By those who make peace