James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
This verse drives home the simple solution to sin and reveals the obvious answer for victorious living. Humility is the primary requirement for accessing all the promises God has given to us. The opposite problem of pride has been the cause of human downfall since Adam and Eve. Pride is the opposite of what James says in this verse. Pride sets us up higher than the Lord and exalts ourselves. We become God. We are the masters of our own destiny. This attitude is the drive of modern life, particularly seen in humanism. Humbling ourselves before God is difficult. It requires us to acknowledge our weakness, to give up our feeble power, and to be willing to accept direction and purpose from outside of our own thinking. It requires that we lay ourselves on the altar as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2). It will open us up to the sanctifying cleansing of the Holy Spirit. The result is new life. James describes this as God exalting us. The word “exalt” means to lift up and honor. The picture that comes to my mind is of a king at court. A lowly servant comes before the king in deep sorrow and humility. The king sees her sincerity and lifts her head up with his gentle hand, wiping away the tears. He leads her out to the garden, calls for a banquet and new clothes, and there is a celebration. God wants to bless us with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3), but our pride and all the sins that go with it keep us from this new life. If we will only come to God in humility, confession our sins and total dependence upon God, then the floodgates of heaven will open for us and we will experience the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 3:19).
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