It may have been Benjamin Franklin who first said, “There is nothing so contentious as religion and politics?” While this quote is decades old, it’s a sentiment that still applies today.
Lots of things divide us. We might have loud rivalries between fans of different sports teams. We might kindly disagree with friends about music. But start talking about something as personal as church or political parties, and there is the possibility of hurt feelings and broken relationships.
So do we just avoid those topics entirely? It’s possible to talk about tense topics with the people we love and preserve our valuable relationships, but in today’s reading we’re focusing on our inner attitudes.
The letter James wrote to the church is very practical. The believers who first received it had been persecuted for their faith, forced to leave the area around Jerusalem and Judea. In a culture that was increasingly hostile to Christianity, these believers needed godly wisdom about how to deal with any number of situations.
James tells us what wisdom doesn’t look like for the believer, and then he tells us what it does look like. It doesn’t look like selfishness and envy. When we only seek our own way or build ourselves up, we’ll end up with discord.
Instead, wisdom looks like humility, thinking of the other person first. Godly wisdom loves peace. This doesn’t mean we don’t speak at all, but we speak with gentleness and respect. We want the fruit of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – to pour out of us in every conversation but especially in contentious ones. As we participate in conversations over the next few months with people of the same political party or a different one, let’s seek to reflect the love of God.
Prayer: Dear God, Sometimes I get loud when I want my own way or think I’m right. Sometimes I avoid conflict because I don’t know what to say. Help me to always be humble, kind, gentle, and peaceful when I speak about the coming election. Help me to have self-control. I want to reflect your love to the people around me. Use me to make your love easy to see! Amen.