Translation Buffet Part Uno

In reading James 4:4-10 I decided that I wasn't fully understanding the context of what I was reading, so on Bible.com I read a few different versions. This is so helpful because I am able to see the scripture in a bigger way...I wish I could understand the King James version, but I am not quite well read enough to even know what "doth" means. If anyone does know what this word means by all means send me a note. :) So I have put a few different translations of James 4:4-10 below.

1. Amplified Bible
4You [are like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world's friend is being God's enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God.
5Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us yearns over us and He yearns for the Spirit [to be welcome] with a jealous love?(A)
6But He gives us more and more grace ([a]power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).(B)
7So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you.
8Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery].
9[As you draw near to God] be deeply penitent and grieve, even weep [over your disloyalty]. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame [for your sins].
10Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant].

2.New Living Translation
4 You adulterers![a] Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy?[b] 6 But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say,
“God opposes the proud but favors the humble.”[c]
7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

3. The Message
4 -6You're cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn't care? The proverb has it that "he's a fiercely jealous lover." And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you'll find. It's common knowledge that "God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble."
7 -10So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet.

OK! Are your eyes crossing? I had to present at least three, because there are two words that really stick out to me that do NOT get lost in translation. The first, of course is grace, the second is humble. Look back on 4:6 all three translations use those two words. Let's look at humble, in order to receive grace we must be humble. What does humble mean? The definition that I found was: meek. Great! Lets look at what meek means: easily managed or handled. Is that bringing into context Matthew 5:5? "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" If we allow ourselves to be "easily managed or handled" by God than we will easily come under His authority and His grace. If we are proud of our sin can we be forgiven? The answers is clearly no.

Labor pains

I saw this video and I could not believe she was singing this well while in labor! I am soooooo impressed. I started wondering what this could do with grace. It came to me as I watched it a second time. Looking at her face it's clear she is having a contraction yet her voice is so steady. In pain, but relying completely on God to get her through. Isn't that what His grace does? It gets us through that pain. Knowing that His grace is there is not a reason to sin, but it is the reason to be victorious over sin. Just like we become victorious at the end of child birth. Is that a stretch? I hope not. There's a lot of pain and transition in this life. Sometimes there are breaks in the pain, she keeps singing, so should we, the pain comes and stays awhile, but she keeps singing, so should we. At the end there is joyous celebration at the arrival of this little soul...Isn't it the same with our Heavenly Father? When we arrive in the presence of Him the rejoicing of our homecoming will be tremendous. But why? Do we deserve it? No. However His blood covers us and because of that we do.

Pause my music on the bottom and listen to her sing!

Grace smells good?

Read Exodus 30:23-25 & 30:34

As I have found throughout my studies into grace there is Biblical Numerology that I was quite unaware of. Or course I knew that 3 & 7 were good, but I didn't quite understand why. I had heard that the number 8 stood for "new beginnings" and it does, i.e. 8 people on Noah's Ark (2 Pet. 2:5); circumcision on 8th day (Gen. 17:12); God made 8 covenants with Abraham. It struck a personal chord because when Micah was born he weighed 8lbs 8oz. Little did I know at the time my heavenly Father was still trying to show me His grace even though I was giving birth to a baby out of wedlock, and living with a man who did not have a biological relation to my son.

I have found that the number 5 represents grace. So here's what it says: Not only did Israel come out of Egypt 5 in rank (Ex 13:18), David picked up 5 stones to fight Goliath (1 Sam. 17:40). I have also come across the fact that anointing oil and incense were both made up of 5 ingredients. The incense was made with 4 sweet spices and 1 part salt, the oil was made 4 parts spices and 1 part oil. This is important because if you look at the number 4 it is the number of creation, the number 1 is the number of unity(one Lord). If the 4 ingredients did not have the 5th component they would not bind, and would be useless. I know the same is true for us. Where would we be without the Lord? Where would we be if He didn't cover us with His grace? I'm sure that I don't ever want to know, but I thank Him for allowing me to look back on my screw-ups and not cringe as much as I used to. I'm not completely at ease with who I was, but I am with who I'm becoming in Him. We no longer have a need for oil and incense like they used to, but it can't hurt to go back and look at how precious these were to those who loved the Lord. It was something tangible that was worth quite a lot. Have we gotten away from seeing Him as so precious because we don't have an offering to give that is as worth as much as a years wage? Do we take Him for granted because He gave us the ultimate gift and asked nothing in return?

OK so I may be taking bunny trails, but I am hoping all this will be a start to thinking about the complexities of the Lord, and just how truly amazing His grace is.

The unfairness of grace?

Read Matthew 20

This parable of the workers makes me cringe to be quite honest with you. I am a person who likes fairness. Not in the way of revenge, but in the way that when you work hard you get what you deserve. It's only fair, right? If you read this story literally you might see that not only is the owner of the vineyard a terrible business man, he really could care less that some workers have been slaving in the sun all day long. It's seems a little odd. However Jesus was not trying to give us a lesson in economics, as the first sentence states, (which I overlooked the first time I read through this) he was trying to show us the kingdom of heaven.

Look at it this way: The landowner went out in the early morning seeking people to employ, parallel that with Jesus being in constant pursuit of us. The landowner did not tell the people they had to work for him, he offered them work, again paralleling that Christ forces us to do nothing we choose Him out of our own freewill. Some people go to work for the landowner early in the morning, and others are called throughout the day, all the while being promised to be paid a denaruis. Side note: a denarius was a common day's pay for the time of Jesus. If we look at the lives of those who have chosen to follow Christ they do not all start at the same time. Some are young and work for Him their whole life, some do not receive him till the 11th hour and yet none of that matters to Him, all are welcome to spend eternity with the Savior. At the end of the day all the workers received the same pay, and the end of our lives we will all be in the same heaven.

In my humanness I struggle with this. Oh it's so easy to say I can't wait to see my grandpa in heaven and meet my ancestors, but I do struggle with the notion that murderers, molesters, rapists, and "major sinners" have full access too. His grace covers all of it. I wondered if this was fair, but then I look at it from a parental point of view. Could I allow one of my kids into heaven and not the other just because one was more naughty than the other? No, and God is the same. As long as Jesus becomes savior and lord of our life we will be with Him. John 14:6 Redeeming, unfailing, beautiful grace.

Please know that the scripture I just referred to goes way deeper than I let it. I don't think God is stuck on us seeing things only one way, He's just too big for that.

2 Samuel 9

This chapter opens with David asking his servant if there was anyone left out of Saul's house. He wanted to "show the [unfailing, unsought, unlimited] mercy and kindness of God" for the sake of Jonathan. His servant informed him that Jonathan's son was still alive his name was Mephibosheth, but he was a cripple living in Lo-debar. I decided to look up Lo-debar to see what kind of place Mephibosheth was living in, the definition said "pastureless" it was also defined as "no word" or "no communication". I think this is such an amazing narrative of where shame would keep us, crippled, in a place with no pasture, and where you are cut off. Isn't that where the enemy wants us? The Lord wants us in communion with him resting in green pastures, but Satan would love to keep us in Lo-debar, cut off from the kingdom.

As the rest of the chapter finishes it is striking to me that Mephibosheth did not try to get out of seeing the king. There was no struggle, no arguing. He humbly did as his king instructed and then as soon as he was told of ALL he would receive he took it. He did not quarrel, or only take a portion, he received ALL of it, including sitting at the king's table as one of his children. Now here is a question. How are we to receive our inheritance if we won't even receive His grace? Max Lucado said: "What will define you? The day you were dropped? Or the day you were carried to the table."

A try at something new.

I have decided to take on the concept of grace, and what it means. I am wanting to know why it is so hard for us humans to understand or even accept it into our lives. God wants to give it to us, but we can't accept, or when we do accept it we only receive 40%. Here is what the dictionary says grace means: 1 a: unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification b: a virtue coming from God c: a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine grace.

I struggle with the notion that salvation is free. Christianity is completely set apart from other religions because of one reason: Grace. Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and others require good works for one to become sanctified, it is only because people struggle with grace that the church has taken grace from us, and we have taken it from ourselves. We can wrap our brains around rules, limitations, and laws. But why is that? When we start making rules we don't stop.

I am hoping that I will be able to go into depth about all these topics and more throughout the coming months.