James 1:1-3

"Someone in the Middle Ages said, 'God nothing does, nor suffers to be done, but what we would ourselves, if we could see through all events of things as well as He.'"
   –Dr. J. Vernon McGee
                                                                              
James 1:3-13 

Is there no other way, Oh God,
Except through sorrow, pain and loss?
To stamp Christ's likeness on my soul,
No other way except the cross?
And then a voice stills all my soul,
That stilled the waves of Galilee,
Cans't thou not bear the furnace
If midst the flames I walk with thee?
I bore the cross, I know its weight,
I drank the cup I hold for thee.
Cans't thou not follow where I lead?
I'll give thee strength, lean hard on Me.
   –Author unknown      
   
James 1:19-22 

The Gospel is written a chapter a day
By deeds that you do and by words that you say.
Men read what you say, whether faithless or true.
Say, what is the Gospel according to you?
   –Author unknown 

James 1:22-25 

It's easier to preach than to practice;
It's easier to say than to do.
Most sermons are heard by the many,
But taken to heart by the few.
   –Author unknown
                                                                              
James 3:1-4 

If your lips would keep from slips,
Five things to observe with care:
To whom you speak, of whom you speak,
And how, and when, and where.
   –Author unknown 

"The boneless tongue, so small and weak,
Can crush and kill," declared the Greek.
"The tongue destroys a greater horde,"
The Turk asserts, "than does the sword."
The Persian proverb wisely saith,
"A lengthy tongue, an early death."
Or sometimes takes this form instead, 
"Don't let your tongue cut off your head."
"The tongue can speak a word whose speed," 
say the Chinese, "outstrips the steed."
While Arab sages this impart;
"The tongue's great storehouse is the heart." 
From Hebrew wit the maxim sprung, 
"Though feet should slip, ne'er let the tongue."
The sacred writer crowns the whole, 
"Who keeps the tongue, doth keep his soul."
   –From Charles Spurgeon's "Salt Cellars"

James 3:14—4:4

Life on earth would not be worth much if every source of irritation were removed. Yet most of us rebel against the things that irritate us, and count as heavy loss what ought to be rich gain. We are told that the oyster is wiser; that when an irritating object, like a bit of sand, gets under the mantle of his shell, he simply covers it with the most precious part of his being and makes of it a pearl. The irritation that it was causing is stopped by encrusting it with the pearly formation. A true pearl is therefore simply a VICTORY over irritation. Every irritation that gets into our lives today is an opportunity for pearl culture. The more irritations the devil flings at us, the more pearls we may have. We need only to welcome them and cover them completely with love, that most precious part of us, and the irritation will be smothered out as the pearl comes into being. What a store of pearls we may have, if we will!
   –Dr. Richard H. Seume (as quoted by Dr. Lehman Strauss in his book, James Your Brother)

James 4:5-17 

“Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one's heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear friend. Tell Him your troubles, that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys, that He may sober them; tell Him your longings, that He may purify them; tell Him your dislikes, that He may help you to conquer them; talk to Him of your temptations, that He may shield you from them; show Him the wounds of your heart, that He may heal them; lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved tastes for evil, your instability. Tell Him how self-love makes you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride disguises you to yourself as to others. If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust the subject. It is continually being renewed. People who have no secrets from each other never want for subjects of conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something to say. They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration, just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God.”
   –Fenelon 

"I carry this in the back of my Bible, everywhere I go, and every now and then I get it out and read it. This was written by Fenelon, a great saint and mystic of the Middle Ages."
   –Dr. J. Vernon McGee