The Hidden Sinfulness in Our Hearts

James exposes something of the sin that's in our hearts that we don't readily see. He's done this a number of times. In his letter he's concerned to help those who profess to be Christians to really be faithful doers of the word, not just hearers of the word.That is, to have lives that match up to their profession. He has a way of unearthing and unmasking problems that we don't see and he does this in this passage. If you really deal with the passage honestly, you are encouraged to look at it and imagine you are hearing it for the first time, as if you don't know the end before you start. Imagine you were in one of those churches When the original recipients first heard these words. James wrote to Jewish believers scattered throughout the Mediterranean world in the first century. James, the half brother of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the leader of the church in Jerusalem after dispersion writes to Jewish believers to encourage them in their faith and as he writes, he's burdened about the issues that they're struggling with.