AN ATTITUDE OF HUMILITY
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
James 4:6-10 NLT
TODAY’S THOUGHT
Humility is the attitude that opens the door for the blessings of God. James quotes from Proverbs 3:34 about God opposing the proud but giving grace to the humble. The language here indicates that God’s activity works to humble the proud. When we think we are really something special God reminds us we are just refined dirt. Everything we are, everything we have, and everything we will ever have is the result of God’s grace and mercy in our lives. The moment we begin to take credit for the good things in our lives God starts to work against us. But the opposite is also true. When we humble ourselves, God pours out His presence into our lives. His presence brings blessings. I wish I could say that winning the battle over pride is a “once and done deal” of just saying a prayer and magically you never have to worry about pride. Unfortunately, I have discovered in my life that pride loves to sneak back into my heart. When I think I’m good here comes pride in a new form and I must deal with it all over again. James lets us know this humility before God should be accompanied with some emotion on our part. There should be tears, mourning, and sorrow for the sin in our lives. When we get close to God, we suddenly realize how full of sin we are. I remember when we were choosing colors for our new home several years back. Cindy decided she wanted white cabinets. I never realized how many white colors there were. I would think one color was all white until I matched it to another color and realized one had some blue in it and another had some yellow. We worked together to find the purest white we could. This is the way it should be in our relationship with God. As we compare ourselves with God, we discover He is purity with nothing distracting His purity. Regardless of how pure we think we are in comparison to someone else; we have lots of impurities we’ve allowed to mix into our life. The Holy Spirit is daily working to clean up our lives so that we can properly reflect His righteousness to the world.
TODAY’S PRAYER
In Jesus name I confess that I am a sinner, and I can’t save myself. I ask Jesus to forgive my sins and purify my life. I ask the Holy Spirit to wash me and empower me to live in righteousness. I commit myself to be a growing follower of Jesus.
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