May 13
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BE HUMBLE & SUBMIT TO THE LORD
5 Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose, “He jealously desires the Spirit whom He has made to dwell in us”? 6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” 7 Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God and He will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
– James 4:5-10
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In this letter of James, he talks about the importance of humility. Strong’s Concordance defines humility as gentleness and meekness. Oxford Dictionary defines it as a modest or low view of one’s own importance. Notice, it didn’t say a low view of our identity or self. It focuses on importance. Paul warns us in Philippians 2:3 not to think highly of ourselves but to count others as more important than you. Why are we reminded constantly to be humble? If we think highly of ourselves, we open the door to the devil to work on deceiving us that we are more than what we think we really are. We can be deceived
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God himself did an act of humility when he stooped down at fallen humanity and gave His Son Jesus so that we can be spared of His wrath and be reconciled with Him. Jesus chose to come from a poor origin so that He can show the value of humility in order for us to give all the glory to His Father.
In this letter, James gives us a gem of truth In verse 6, he reminds us how God is against the proud but gives grace to the humble. Isn’t that enough reason to choose humility against thinking highly of oneself? He emphasizes the importance of submitting to God and then resisting the devil. Submission is pre-requisite before you can resist the devil. In order to submit to God, we need humility to acknowledge that He is our Lord and Master and that we will succumb to His sovereignty and authority. James added another nugget of wisdom in verse 8, when God invites us to come close to Him so he can come close to us through repentance and purification of our hearts. He gives the result of humbling ourselves before the Lod. God Himself will raise us up and exalt us. What a promise to all those who will humble themselves and submit to God. So, why don’t we all choose to do so?
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REFLECTION
• Why is faith not going to work if we are not humble?