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.

Loving the Cross

Here is a well-known quote from "The Imitation of Christ" (Bk. 2, Ch.11) to meditate on as we approach Passion Week:

"JESUS has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection. Those, on the contrary, who love Him for His own sake and not for any comfort of their own, bless Him in all trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation. Even if He should never give them consolation, yet they would continue to praise Him and wish always to give Him thanks. What power there is in pure love for Jesus — love that is flee from all self-interest and self-love! Do not those who always seek consolation deserve to be called mercenaries? Do not those who always think of their own profit and gain prove that they love themselves rather than Christ? Where can a man be found who desires to serve God for nothing? Rarely indeed is a man so spiritual as to strip himself of all things. And who shall find a man so truly poor in spirit as to be free from every creature? His value is like that of things brought from the most distant lands. If a man give all his wealth, it is nothing; if he do great penance, it is little; if he gain all knowledge, he is still far afield; if he have great virtue and much ardent devotion, he still lacks a great deal, and especially, the one thing that is most necessary to him. What is this one thing? That leaving all, he forsake himself, completely renounce himself, and give up all private affections. Then, when he has done all that he knows ought to be done, let him consider it as nothing, let him make little of what may be considered great; let him in all honesty call himself an unprofitable servant. For truth itself has said: “When you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: ‘we are unprofitable servants.’” Then he will be truly poor and stripped in spirit, and with the prophet may say: “I am alone and poor.” No one, however, is more wealthy than such a man; no one is more powerful, no one freer than he who knows how to leave all things and think of himself as the least of all."

A Measure of Faith

No, despite my title I'm not trying to find a way to quantify how much faith I have or to work out an equation for who has more or less faith than I do. I'm referring to Romans 12:3, where Paul speaks about God giving us a "measure of faith." This is a curious phrase, and some have taken it to mean something like what I implied above, while others, looking at the context of spiritual gifts, see it as the way God gives "better" gifts to some than others.

I always try to make sense of Scripture by looking at the context. (Ask my Sunday school classes; they'll tell you my first three rules of hermeneutics are (1) look at the context, (2) look at the context, and (3) look at the context.) Verse 3 reads: "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." (NIV 1984- which, as an aside, amuses me to write after reading so many posts and articles that refer to KJV 1611.) Paul is speaking here not of the salvation experience or of any sort of comparison, but of our attitude.


The problem addressed in this verse is one of pride. Paul reminds the Roman church that everything they have, and every gift they exercise, is something God has given them. They should therefore not think that it is their inherent quality that allows them to exercise a particular gift, but the Holy Spirit. The "sober judgment" we are to have of ourselves is due to the fact that we have received grace from the Lord, and that "measure of faith" is not due to our own effort, will, or desire but to God's will and calling.


The Greek word for "measure" here is metron, which underlies our English word "meter." A meter is a standard measurement, and metron can have that meaning. Here, however, it more likely has the idea of "a determined portion," a measure of a quantity given out. The gifts God gives to us are a "portion" given to us. It goes against our culture to think this way, but we have nothing to do with what gifts we are given by God.


So what difference do we make? That is in the verses that follow, where Paul tells us to use the gifts we are given. He mentions a few specific gifts, each time urging those with those gifts to use them well. Where we make a difference is not in the acquisition of our gifts, but in their use. We have a calling from the Lord, and He sees to it that we have whatever gift is needed to carry that out. Our responsibility is to honor Him by using our gifts for His glory.


Don't think too much of yourself, then. Notice Paul doesn't say to think badly of yourself, or to put yourself down, but to think "soberly." That means having an accurate assessment of who you are and what you do for Jesus. Basically it means seeing yourself as God sees you. That will prevent us from getting puffed up about our importance, but it also will keep us from thinking we are worthless.


All Christians are gifted, and we all have a place of service to which we have been called. We need to make sure we are fulfilling our roles in expanding Christ's kingdom, and as keeping ourselves humble as we do.