Humble Yourself

The letter of James is a perfect example of the perversion of Scripture I recently heard, “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there will be differences."  The rich and the poor, hearers and doers, those who show partiality, those who emphasize faith and those who stress that works are important, are among just a few of the differences that exist between believers, and are addressed in this letter.

As I shared in my previous blog, some would rather avoid conflict as they tend to believe it is nothing other than destructive.  But, I contend conflict is inevitable in any relationship, especially in the church; and that is has the potential to be constructive.  Why this other attitude?  James gets right at the heart of what results in our differences becoming a problem.  It is a lack of humility.

Humility, James says, causes us to judge our brothers and sisters in Christ and to speak evil of them (4:11).  The lack of humility grows on us as we experience success, prosperity, acquire possessions, status, and reputation.  These are of the world and not the reward of a faithful servant of God.  After awhile, we develop a "friendship with the world," we become attached to these things, and they result in a sense of pride as though they are due to our own efforts, rather than the outcome of our obedience and service.

Our pride then puts us in conflict with others in the church.  We begin to see ourselves as different, perhaps even more blessed than our brothers and sisters, more spiritually mature than they.

James writes, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (v. 6).”  There is nothing wrong with assuming the honor, but the glory belongs to God.  We are to live our lives in submission to Him, to resist the temptations of the enemy, to humble ourselves to the One who is mighty to save.

God's favor is intended to bless others not to make them feel inferior or lesser than us.

O God, who resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble: grant us the virtue of true humility, where of Your Only-begotten son showed in Himself a pattern for Your faithful; that we may never by our pride provoke Your anger, but rather by our meekness receive the riches of Your grace.

Godspeed, Phil