More Than Belief

The Beginning of the Letter of James

James 1:1-11

Monday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

James doesn’t begin softly.

You may ask, James? Who? He was one of those crazy-for-Christ people, living nearly two thousand years ago, drunk on God’s Spirit instead of wine, leading a fragile community trying—often failing—to live the teaching of Jesus.

So James doesn’t warm us up. He doesn’t ask how we’re feeling.

He looks straight at us and asks: Is your faith real—or just talk?

Because believing seems easy. You can believe and still step over people. You can believe and still chase comfort. You can believe and still live exactly like everyone else.

James won’t let us get away with that.

He writes to people scattered, stressed, pushed to the margins— people trying to hold on while life keeps shaking them.

And he says something strange, almost offensive:

When life tests you, don’t panic. Stay. Endure. Let it do its work.

We don’t like that. We want out. We want quick fixes, instant answers, fast relief.

We pray like we order online: Now. Express delivery. No waiting.

James says: don’t treat God like a vending machine.

Be patient. Trust that God knows the timing. Trust that you’re not forgotten just because the answer is slow.

And then James touches a nerve.

He talks about the poor being lifted up and the rich being brought low.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, sang the same song long before him:

“God has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”

Everything we cling to— status, money, control, image— fades faster than we think. Like grass under the sun. Like a story that doesn’t last.

But the one who trusts in the Lord will inherit the earth.

For James, faith is not a badge. It’s a direction.

It shows up in how we treat people who can’t help us back. In whether we notice the forgotten. In whether our lives bend toward mercy or curve endlessly back to ourselves.

So James begins his letter and goes straight to the point:

Don’t just believe. Live.

Don’t just say the words. Let them cost you something.

Because faith that never touches the ground was never alive to begin with.

James lived a faith that walked, chose what was right, stayed when life was hard, kept asking God for wisdom that knew how to live.

And you— what about your life of faith? What are you asking God for?

Scripture Attribution

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Scripture Attribution

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