James wrote to Christians whose faith was under attack. Persecution, false teachings, and loveless actions were troubling God's baptized people.

Things have not changed much for the church in these latter days. Though Luther referred to this letter as "an epistle of straw," James gives much wisdom to Christ's troubled bride.

In his foreword to Finding Christ in the Straw: A Forty-Day Devotion on the Epistle of James, Robert M. Hiller writes "[Martin] Luther felt that this letter lacked the focus on the person and work of Jesus Christ to warrant much of his energy. Straw has its benefits but is not all that useful in the long run."

However, these forty devotions, based on James, will both challenge and comfort you, while showing you Christ in the straw.