Humility Cures Worldliness

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Scripture: James 4:7-10 (NKJV)

7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Devotion:

            The church in the West has fallen into a state of worldliness. These words from James address our situation accurately and provide us with a spiritual exercise to help us in our fallen state. Our churches do not do a good job of encouraging people to live lives that are in total devotion to God. Instead, we sometimes make it seem like Christians are to take the path of least resistance. This is not the message of Jesus in the gospels, or the message proclaimed here by James.

            James in these verses gives us what some commentators call a ‘spiritual exercise.’ Just as it is important to exercise our physical bodies, so it is important and necessary to exercise our souls. His suggestions here are in the form of commands. They are for all Christians not merely those employed by the church in leadership positions. Let us, therefore, pay careful attention to these words and seek to implement them in our lives. This is a challenge for everyone who calls themselves a Christian.

            We begin our exercise by submitting ourselves to God. This means deliberately putting God first in our lives. Then we must learn to resist the devil. When we pray “lead us not into temptation” we are making a plea to our God that we will seek to walk in God’s ways not the ways of the world, the flesh, or the devil. This resisting comes with a promise attached, “and he will free from you.” This should be a great encouragement to us. However, only a life truly submitted to God will be able to stand firm against the devil and his forces.

            Next, we are to clean our hands and purify our hearts. We do this by confessing all sin and repenting of it. Our ways of behaving in the world are not always so pure and clean, so we must pay attention to what we are doing and not give in to the temptation that can so easily entangle us in its cords.

            Then James turns into an Old Testament prophet. Lament, mourn, and weep are words frequently found in the writings of the prophets. Together they are meant to cause us to be humble as we live before the face of God. We need to take a good look at ourselves and soberly measure our lives not against other believers but against Jesus.

            James next, exhorts us not to laugh or be joyous all the time. Rather, we are to be sober and know when it is time to laugh and when it is time to mourn. Finally, James basically repeats what he says at the beginning of this passage. We are to humble ourselves before the Lord. We do so with the assurance that God will at the proper time exalt us if we live in this way. We must remember Jesus beatitude, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)

Prayer:

            Lord teach us how to walk humbly before you. May we always seek to bring glory and honor to the name of Jesus Christ. We must learn not to puff ourselves up, or exalt ourselves, but always to live in ways that honor you. Help us to understand the blessing we have all come from you. We have nothing that does not come through you. Lord, you are our Lord. We seek to honor you in everything we do. Help us to wait for you to lift us up. Amen.

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