This morning I am looking at some verses from the letter of James. He has such an interesting perspective and way of thinking, very different than Paul. Here are the verses - James 4:2-10 NIV:
[2] "You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. [3] When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."
[4] "You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. [5] Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us ? [6] But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
[7] "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [9] Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. [10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."
Yesterday we were talking about humility and how the Lord blesses the humble. It is such an interesting way of thinking and so counter-intuitive. We tend to choose people who are strong, who are capable, and able to stand on their own, and the Lord is looking for us to exhibit the opposite behaviour. I said yesterday that in some ways this is just un-American, for we value a independent spirit, those that are self-made, and the strong. It is important that we see God's heart in this all.
The thing the Lord is after is our thoughts, our mind-set. In verse 3 above, James is addressing a motive of selfishness. At its core, selfishness is self-centered thought. We are not thinking about others, and their needs, but instead our own needs and wants. We want things and don't want to wait, or trust or believe that the Lord has our best interests in mind, so we figure out ways to get what we want. Almost all of marketing and advertising is focused on our selfish motives.
It is not that the Lord doesn't want us to have nice things, or enjoy our lives. In verse 6 above James quotes Proverbs 3:34 when he says that God shows favor to the humble. God loves to shower blessings on us, loves to give us gifts, and has given us the greatest gift in His Son Jesus. God's generosity is beyond anything we have ever seen, but we don't trust or believe that He is good. The funny thing is that He is the only one who is really good, according to Jesus. Here is a quote from Luke 18:19 NIV: “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good---except God alone."
Humbling ourselves is basically changing our mindset to look to God rather than ourselves. The original Greek word means to lower ourselves to the ground, and when we do that before the Lord, He will lift us up. We are all sons and daughters of God, and as such He will not allow us to remain bowed down. However, our status comes from Him, not from our achievements or own efforts. This is the key to walking in humility, being able to recognize that everything we have and who we are is a gift from God. Humility is roughly equivalent to gratitude, recognizing that all that is good comes from another source, namely God.
Lord, I pray that You will help us to trust in You, to believe that You have a better perspective for guiding our lives. Help us to understand and experience Your goodness, for You alone are good. Let us entrust our lives and our needs and wants to You. Let us recognize that You are the source of all good things, and as such the One we should look to. Help us to resist the evil one, our flesh and the world, all of which are trying to get us to take our eyes off of You. You are good, and everything You do is good.
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