A Culture of Honesty

I felt like I should read from James 5 this morning and I settled on these verses for my meditation - James 5:13-16 NIV:

[13] "Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. [14] Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. [15] And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. [16] Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."

I was just thinking about how these four verses define the simple, yet healthy culture of the church of James' day. There was a real power to prayer, experienced in their midst. They shared joy, sadness, troubles and helped each other. They had a healthy attitude towards each other, recognizing that they were all sinners, but that the Lord's forgiveness and healing was for them all. There is evident a healthy transparency, a simpleness to just being who they are and what they are experiencing. There is a trust in each other, and reliance on one another, not out of desperate need, but out of relationship. One gets the feeling that there is a culture of honesty - people are free to be honest, not putting on airs, not trying to act a certain way, not trying to appear religious, not trying to impress one another or their leaders - people just being honest with who they are and how they feel.

Oh Lord, that You would help the church today to live and operate with this type of culture. That the world would see a place of complete honesty, mercy, grace, life and healing, and that You the source of all of this would be glorified!