James is a beloved book, since it is so practical, so full of vivid exhortations to live a godly life. In a few pages, it offers concrete counsel on an array of issues that confront Christians daily: trials, poverty, materialism, pride, favoritism, justice, planning, prayer, illness, and more. Yet there are two sides to the book’s candor and clarity. “Its call to realize professed ideals in appropriate action has spoken with prophetic urgency to generations of readers who have found