happy monday!

hello east quad crew!

In continuing on with the BRP today, I read Isaiah 8:1-9:7 and James 2. This part of James was about two things: 1) favoritism and 2) the importance of faith and works. The favoritism part discussed the fact that discriminating among people, particularly between rich and poor, is a sin because really, who are we to judge? God is the only one able to judge any of us. It then went on to say that in order to really love your neighbor as yourself, it isn't acceptable to show favoritism. This may seem like common sense, but I know that I personally have a tendency to judge others without even realizing what I'm doing. God's word says, though, that we should treat everyone equally, with mercy, "13 For judgement is without mercy to the one who hasn't shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgement." The faith and works part of this chapter talked about how having faith isn't enough. We need to act on it. Verse 10 really stuck out to me: "You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also believe - and they shudder." This is basically saying that simply believing in God isn't enough because even demons, even the devil believe that God exists, but that doesn't mean that they're saved. Instead, we need to act on our faith, and these works show our faith to the rest of the world. In fact, verse 22 says "You see that faith was active together with his [referring to Abraham] works, and by works, faith was perfected." The two go hand in hand, and you can't legitimitely have one without the other.

Ok, update time! Let's see, I've now been home for a week, and while I think the down time has been really good for me, I'm also starting to go a little bit crazy because adjusting to both my parents' schedules and being back in this tiny town is really hard. I think some of my high school friends are finally coming home this week though, so that will be nice. Also, I'll be in Ann Arbor this coming weekend, and I'm so excited! haha Other than that, I really don't think there's much else new in my life....

hugs,
Shelby