Quick To Forget
I’m going to be honest... this spring the Connect group I am a part of did an in-depth study of the book of James chapter-by-chapter. It was amazing. However, when we found out that Summit was doing a summer long series on the book of James there was a little (or maybe a big) moan of “oh man…we just did that!”
We grumbled about it, and of course the group looked to me, who is on staff, to wonder why I didn’t catch this. I have no excuse other than that simply trying to keep track of my car keys and my cell phone keeps me busy enough.
But you know what? After studying the book of James with my Connect group in the spring and now doing this summer series alongside the rest of Summit, I can certainly say that this book holds a special place in my heart. And looking back…the thought “I just read that” seems pretty silly to me. It’s true that the book of James is so practical, so straightforward. Yet it is also so difficult!
It’s one of those books that, as I read it, I can agree with what I read and feel so encouraged, yet when I walk away from the text I am quick to forget! Just like the first chapter warns about not just hearing the word, but doing what it says, and yet, here I am. But I don’t want to be a person who looks in the mirror and forgets what I look like!
“The truths I learned through James might be simple, but that certainly doesn’t mean that they are easy.”
Someone once told me if it’s worth remembering, it’s worth repeating. I’m realizing that habits take time to develop and repetition is the key for me. I need to be reading the truth of Scripture over and over again. I am a forgetful person and I don’t think there is such a thing of reading the book of James too much or too often. Or any part of the bible for that matter!
I think this summer my love of Scripture has been renewed, but I don’t think that it will just naturally stay that way. I think I have to be intentional to read and re-read Scripture so that it slowly seeps into the very fiber of who I am and who God created me to be. The truths I learned through James might be simple, but that certainly doesn’t mean that they are easy. And even though this summer series in James might be coming to a close, I know that I’ll visit James again and that the truths found in this book of the Bible will stay with me.
Darling Heldt is the BCL Coordinator for Summit. If you'd like to reach out to her about James or BCL or really anything, she'd love to hear from you!