Humble Before God

This morning I was reading from James:

(NIV)James 4:6-10
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.

I also really like James 3:13: "Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom." Our deeds should be done in humility, not with a selfish focus, but rather looking to our friends, family and those around us. We need to draw near to God, and humble ourselves before Him.

The Greek word translated humble is: Tapeinoo pronounced:tap-i-no'-o

Definition 1. to make low, bring low a. to level, reduce to a plain b. metaph. to bring into a humble condition, reduce to meaner circumstances 1. to assign a lower rank or place to 2. to abase 3. to be ranked below others who are honoured or rewarded 4. to humble or abase myself by humble living c. to lower, depress 1. of one's soul bring down one's pride 2. to have a modest opinion of one's self 3. to behave in an unassuming manner 4. devoid of all haughtiness

I was thinking that in reality this means that we walk in the first commandment, making God first in our lives, and the only one that we worship. For many of us, we have competing allegiences and desires. We place other things at the same or higher level than God in our lives, and in a certain way we are placing our will and thought above His. Here we are clearly encouraged to look at our lives and put ourselves in the proper place, recognizing God's sovereignty over our lives.