Love God and love others – these two priorities shape the life of every follower of Jesus. Love God and love others means more than saying we have faith. It changes how we approach God, how we treat people, and how we live the limited time God gives us.
In this message, Pastor Dave walks through James 4:8-16 and explores what it looks like to live with the right priorities. James begins with our vertical relationship with God. He calls us to come near to God, recognize our sin, repent, and humble ourselves before Him. When we turn toward God, He promises to draw near to us.
Our Relationship With God – James does not treat sin casually. Instead, he calls believers to sorrow over sin and turn back to God. Repentance requires an honest look at our hearts. We cannot grow closer to God while holding tightly to the things that pull us away from Him. However, our relationship with God also affects our relationship with others.
Our Relationships With Others – James 4:11-12 addresses the horizontal side of our faith. We cannot claim to love God while continually speaking evil about others or judging them with hypocrisy. Jesus also warns us about focusing on the faults of others while ignoring our own. Pastor Dave explains the difference between wrong judgment and right judgment. Wrong judgment looks at another person’s heart, motives, or standing with God. Right judgment starts with ourselves, focuses on actions, and seeks to help rather than condemn. That distinction matters. God has called us to examine our own lives first. Then, when we help others, we should do so with humility and love.
Life Is Short – James 4:13-16 then turns our attention to the brevity of life. We make plans for tomorrow as if we control the future, but James reminds us that life is like a mist that appears for a short time and then disappears. Therefore, we should not live arrogantly or assume tomorrow belongs to us. Instead, we should submit our plans to God’s will. Our time is limited, our lives are temporary, and eternity matters.
As we continue the James:Living Proof series, Pastor Dave challenges us to examine both directions of our faith. Look up toward God with repentance and humility. Look around at others with grace and wisdom. Then look ahead with a renewed awareness that our lives belong to God.
Loving God and Others calls us to live with the right priorities: draw near to God, turn from sin, love people well, judge rightly, and surrender our future to God’s will.