Humble Yourselves in the Sight of the Lord

2012-03-15

“But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” (James 4:6-10)

Thank God for another chance. Again and again, we return to the same sins, thinking that somehow we can find life and fulfillment in something that is not of God. Consider the following command of God:

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (Deuteronomy 6:5)

Did God command this because of some personal need of his? No--he requires worship because we were created for his pleasure, but also because it is what is best for us. We are our best selves when we serve him.

But enough about us; if we are here for God, then we need to talk more about him, and what we need to do to please him. If we are not submitting to God in everything, we are acting like his enemies. Surely there is a time and a place where we should pray for a clean heart: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). But James says we need to cleanse our hands, and purify our hearts. We are responsible for our actions, and to correct those actions that are wrong. We were saved by grace, but as new creations in Christ Jesus, we are fashioned by him to do the good works he requires. I have all three verses of Ephesians 2:8-10 in mind:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Are we double minded? We are when we are different at church from what we are during the rest of the week. It has been said before that integrity is who we are when nobody is looking. Ouch. Is that who I am?

We need to be afflicted, mourn, and weep; we need to wipe those smiles off our faces because of our sins. We need to take a hard look in the mirror over our condition. We as Christians are responsible for this generation of souls on the earth. If anyone can be saved, or if any good thing can happen in our world, it will be because we are walking in the Spirit every day, and seeking first the kingdom of God. I am guilty of not doing this. We need to die daily and repent of sins daily.

If we choose this day to humble ourselves, and mourn over our sinfulness and lack of service, God will lift us up. And he will not do it for our sakes, but for his name’s sake. This life is to be devoted to him; when we leave this earth, will we look back at what we have not done in the name of Christ?