A humble heart

James is at his fiery best in chapter 4 of his epistle. I can hear him in my imagination thundering from the "pulpit" about the dangers of sinful desires and trying to be friends with the world. In this chapter, I think there is a common thread that ties together the sections, and that is pride. It is pride that causes us to put ourselves and our desires ahead of serving the Lord, that makes us want to be respected by the world, that leads us to criticizing others, and that sets us up to boast about our futures as if we controlled history. Pride was the first sin, and it is often a root of many other sins.

What is James' solution to this problem? Naturally, it is humility. He quotes Proverbs 3:34, which states that God "gives grace to the humble." It seems like that means we hve to earn God's grace through our attitude, but I think there is a deeper truth here. The proud person will not receive God's grace, not because it is not offered, but because he sees no need of it. If I am in control, and everything is going my way, why would I want to ask God for grace? "I don't need God or His grace; I'm doing just fine, thank you." 

The humble person receives God's grace because he or she recognizes a desperate need for that grace. If I understand who I am before God, and just what sin means, I will not approach the Lord with pride asking for what I think I deserve, because I know exactly what I do deserve, and it's a fearsome judgment. If I am truly humble, I will ask for grace since it is the only thin that keeps me from hell. 

Submission to God is required, and talking about submission is not popular in our contemporary Western culture. If we look at James' call to submit to God in its context, wee see that in the very next verse he talks about drawing near to God. Submission to God is not an abject groveling at the feet of a cruel and exacting master; it is drawing near, with proper reverence, to a loving Father who is the almighty Creator of the universe. There's enough there that I won't approach God in a flippant manner, but I can be encouraged that He wants me to draw near.

Humility also helps us "resist the devil." We know we need help, we need grace, and we need a power beyond what we have to resist Satan's temptations. Satan himself fell because of pride, and he will use ours to goad us to serving ourselves rather than the Lord. As long as we are aware of our own penchant for sin, and constantly come to od for forgiveness when we do sin, we can maintain the kind of humble attitude that stills the call to pride.

Humility is really just recognizing who we are in God's sight: sinners, saved by grace, and beloved now as children of God. We won't think too highly of ourselves and our own goodness, nor will we wallow in depression over our sorry state. We will think of ourselves as God does, and each day gain an increased understanding of how He sees us and how we can serve Him. With that kind of humility, we can avoid a great deal of temptation to go our own way, and stay on the path God has made for us.